St Catherine de' Ricci : her life, her letters, her community

ST CATHERINE
DE' RICCI

ST. CATHERINE DE RICCI,
From a death-mask preset ved by the nuns of Prato.

ST CATHERINE
DE' RICCI

HER LIFE HER LETTERS
HER COMMUNITY

By

F. M. CAPES

^Preceded by a
TREATISE on the MYSTICAL LIFE

by
F. BERTRAND WILBERFORCE O.P.

Preacher-General of the Order

BURNS & GATES

28 ORCHARD STREET
LONDON W

Nibil Obstat

J. S. NoRTHCOTE

Censor Deputatus

Imprimatur

»J< FRANCISCUS

Archiepiscopuf Westmonast.

To

The Right %}>. Lady Abbess Parser, O.S.B.
and the Community

tf

Sf Marys Abbey ^ East Bergbolt,

this BooJ^

is most Affectionately Dedicated by the
Writer

PREFACE

ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI, one of the three canonized Domi-
nican women of the "Third Order,"* holds a different
position from that of either her great predecessor and
namesake of Siena or the Saint of the New World who
was a little girl when she died, Rose of Lima. These two
were "Tertiaries" in the strict sense of the word, remain-
ing inmates of their respective parents' houses to the end
of their lives.

St Catherine de' Ricci, on the contrary, was not only a
"conventual" tertiary, but she belonged to a community
which, although of the Third Order, was enclosed behind
a grille and led a strictly contemplative life. Its members
had nothing to do with hospitals, orphanages, schools, or
any kind of charitable institutions, doing no "active" work
except what was absolutely needful for their own sup-
port:— such as needlework or confectionery, etc., which they
sold; and even these occupations were lessened as far as
possible under Catherine's rule, to give more time for
prayer. In fact, had it not been that their constitutions
were of a less severe nature as to fast and abstinence, the
sisters of her convent might almost as well have belonged
to the Second Order as to the Third. Hence it is as a model
rather of a contemplative nun, than of what we in England
usually understand by a conventual tertiary, that this con-
temporary of St Philip Neri and St Mary Magdalen de'
Pazzi must be regarded.

Again, wide as was her acquaintance with "seculars" of
every kind, so that her life was by no means a hidden one
like St Rose's, the nun of Prato was not a great historical
character like St Catherine of Siena, whose wonderful voca-
tion was clearly inconsistent with a cloistered life. Cathe-
rine de' Ricci had great fame in her own time and country,

* There are many "Blessed."

vl ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

but it was more for her extraordinary mystical life than for
any of her personal actions that people were drawn to her,
at least to begin with; though, when they came to know
her, the beauty of her character and the good that she did
to others with true Dominican activity of mind and heart
warmly attached them to her. She was prioress of her con-
vent for a great part of her life, and as such was renowned
for her wise and holy government. Thus, her position with
regard to the public lies, as it were, between that of the
other two saints. Her life, we may say, contains a triple
interest : — that of the pure mystic; that of the practical Re-
ligious superior in her own community; and that of the
essentially loving and tender woman, spreading beneficent
influence around as far as the circumstances of her calling
allowed.

The substance of this new life of the saint* is mainly
taken from the Vie de Ste Catherine de Ricci by Pere Hya-
cinthe Bayonne, O.P. (Paris: Poussielgue, 1873), which the
present superiors of the French province have most kindly
allowed to be freely used. Many of its narrative portions
have, however, been omitted or simplified, the French life
being often either too long and wordy or rather too flowery
in style for English taste. Also, whilst the accounts of St
Catherine's celebrated lasting miraculous favours — her ec-
stasy of the Passion, her receiving the sacred stigmata, and
the like — have been retained in full, some only of the stories
given by Pere Bayonne of incidental miracles or visions
have been chosen for insertion, and even these frequently
told in shortened form.

Considerable additions have also been made to the older
work, consisting in several original letters of the saint which
either do not appear at all in the French life, or are merely
quoted there.

These letters form, it need hardly be said, a particu-
larly valuable portion of the present work, by enabling
the saint to speak to us herself from behind her grille
of three centuries ago. It would perhaps be impossible

* The narrative has been here and there supplemented or corrected by reference to
Guasti's admirable introductory notes, etc., to the " Letters."

PREFACE vii

to characterize them more truly than a Dominican doctor
in theology, Pere Berthier, has done in this pithy
antithesis:

"These simple and practical letters of the nobly-born
Catherine de' Ricci form a fitting pendant to the grand—
we might almost say the aristocratic — style of Catherine of
Siena, the dyer's daughter."*

In one case, throughout this English version, not the
substance only but the words of the French writer have
been kept to: — i.e., wherever an explanation or dissertation
of theological nature, concerning the Religious life or any
spiritual matter, is in question. As Pere Bayonne was a
noted Dominican friar, which means a first-rate theologian
as well as an authority on the spirit of his Order, it would
be an impertinence to substitute any expressions for his
own, or to omit anything of consequence that he had
said, where such things were concerned. Moreover, his
words on these subjects are often of considerable beauty
and power in themselves, and greatly add to the interest of
the biography.

As to the original sources for St Catherine de' Ricci's
life, which are mainly Italian, and date from immediately
after the saint's death, Pere Bayonne gives a full and care-
ful account of these at the beginning of his work, besides
making frequent reference to them, with many quotations,
throughout the text. This latter plan has been followed
here; but the account of authorities, being too long for re-
production in full, is given merely as a "List" at the end
of this book.

Any reader who becomes sufficiently interested in
Catherine to feel inclined to hunt up and examine the old
Italian chroniclers for himself will probably be well re-
warded for his trouble, especially in the case of Serafino
Razzi. If we may judge from the extracts given by Bayonne,
and from some others in Mother Francis Raphael's "Spirit

* See a letter of approval prefixed by the Oullins nuns to their French translation.
St Catherine of Siena's academic style, it must be remembered, was supernatural, she
having learnt to read and write miraculously. Catherine de' Ricci had had the ordinary
woman's education of a well born and bred, but not literary, family, and wrote merely
as her natural intelligence dictated.

viii ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

of the Dominican Order," that bygone writer has a grace
and charm in story- telling, combined with faith and devo-
tion, quite peculiar to himself.

Three points connected with this English Life — i.e., the
letters, the portrait, and the mixed name-system here adopted
— need some prefatory explanation:

i. Two full editions of St Catherine de' Ricci's letters
were brought out in the latter half of the nineteenth century
(besides a small earlier one consisting only of fifty letters,
chiefly to her family, edited with no notes or explanatory
matter). One of these two, edited by Alessandro Gherardi,
at Florence, is as late as 1890, and contains four hundred
letters, some of them being taken from an earlier edition,
which is the most important of all. This is the collection
edited and annotated by Cesare Guasti, and published after
his death, at Prato, by Ranieri Guasti, in 1 8 6 1 . This edition
contains about three hundred and fifty letters, with some
most useful and interesting prefatory matter (by way of
notes), which throws much light on various points con-
nected with the saint, her family, and her friends and
correspondents; as also on the connection of herself and her
community with Savonarola.

It is on this Italian edition that the latest and largest
volume of the saint's letters is based: i.e., the full French
edition brought out by the Dominican nuns at Oullins
(now banished to Bissighem-les-Courtrai, in Belgium) in
1 900.* This volume contains some letters from Gherardi
besides those of Guasti, bringing them altogether up to
four hundred and sixty-two in number ; but as regards
"notes," etc., it is an actual translation of Guasti's work.
From this very valuable book — leave to use which was
most kindly given by the nuns — the present writer has
chosen the letters to be published in English; but — with
the exception of a few that have been done from the French
— all those here given have been translated straight from
the Italian, so as to secure the reproduction of the saint's
own words as nearly as possible. This part of the work was

* The French volume is actually not dated by publishers (Douniol, Paris) creditors.
The date is therefore quoted from memory.

PREFACE lx

undertaken by two friends of the writer's, one of whom
has passed away since she gave her kind help: namely, by
the late Miss Cecilia Simeon (who translated a few family
letters, and several of those to Filippo Salviati) ; and by
Miss E. Kislingbury, who is the translator of the main
portion. The latter, "in addition to the apology owing to
her readers for her own shortcomings in style," desires, in
partial justification, to quote the following lines from the
preface of Guasti, with whose opinion she fully concurs
from her own experience in translating the letters, which
have sometimes been very difficult to put into grammatical
English:

Catherine [remarks her Italian editor], as I have said, was not a literary
woman, neither did she know anything of the artificialities of style. But
the words came from her heart with a spontaneity which is nearer to
nature; and when her discourse changes from the singular to the plural,
and back again to the singular; when the verb does not correspond with
the nominative, or the noun which she has in mind is not even expressed;
if the reason for this is not in the grammar-books, it is to be found in her
own heart, which felt the efficacy of certain constructions, irregular perhaps,
in that they are foreign to precedent, but well within the spirit of the lan-
guage and approved by the authority of the people, the highest law-giver.*

To make choice, from so many, of a few special letters
for insertion here has of course been a difficult task. The
writer has gone on the plan of choosing those which seemed
best to illustrate, not merely the saint's own character, but
that of her community, and the nature of her general sur-
roundings: thus enabling the portion here presented of her
familiar correspondence to give as vivid a picture as possible
of contemporary " manners," Religious and secular, of
everyday life. Whether the right letters tor this purpose
have been picked out or not must, however, of course be
a matter on which opinion may differ, should any readers
of this volume already know the whole collection, or be
disposed to turn to it after making acquaintance with these
specimens.

It is greatly to be regretted — as in the case of so many
letters published posthumously — that we have not the other

* Guasti's Lettere Spiritual!, etc., p. 24.

x ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

side of the correspondence preserved, in some instances, to
complete the picture.

2. The portrait of St Catherine here given is taken,
with permission, from the French volume of letters. This
portrait — as might be conjectured by its general expression
— is from a mould taken after death, which was preserved
at Prato. M. Guasti, in the year 1860, had an engraving
done after this mould, considered to have been very suc-
cessful; and the said engraving was lent by his daughter to
the French nuns, who had it photographed and repro-
duced for their translation of the letters.

There are various portraits of St Catherine de' Ricci
about — some engravings which more or less resemble the
one here published, and some "pious" coloured pictures
of the beautified sickly-sentimental order, as absolutely
unlike it as possible. That these last are also utterly unlike
the original is clear from a comparison of the older engra-
vings with this one taken from the "mask," which appears
to be the only really authentic portrait preserved. Some of
the older drawings represent St Catherine as uglier than
this — making the features coarser and the chin more
receding — but none of them attempt, like the modern
productions, to make her "pretty." M. Guasti's engraving
(it is thought by some who have looked at it critically,
with a view to the question of prefixing it to the English
Life), if repellant at first sight, has the merit of repaying
a more careful study by the discovery of much sweetness,
dignity, and, above all, great saintliness of expression in
the worn and even plain features. It must be remembered
that the mould from which it is taken was not only that
of a dead woman, but of one sixty-eight years old and
exhausted with bodily penance and spiritual effort.

3. The name-system followed in this English life of
St Catherine may be justly charged with inconsistency;
but it is an inconsistency adopted of set purpose, with a
method in it, and the method is this:

Where proper names — whether of people or places —
have become so familiar to us in their English form that to
give them in their native Italian would appear to ordinary

PREFACE xi

readers either strange or pedantic, they have been Anglicized
here. Where this is not the case the Italian form has been
preserved, as being not only more suitable to the book, but in
almost every case far superior in beauty. For example, the
name of the saint herself has been given as " Catherine,"
English people being so used to all the saints of that name
under this form, that " Caterina " would seem most un-
familiar. Again, in the case of St Philip Neri, the Oratorians
in this country have made the English spelling so universal
that to spell it "Filippo" would seem absolutely pedantic;
whilst Dominicans are also familiar with St Vincent Ferrer.
On the other hand, the name of the Prato convent has no
place among us in English, and may therefore have — as
also may the saint's relations — its own musical name of
San Vincenzio left to it; and for the same reason Cathe-
rine's friend and "spiritual son," Salviati, may keep his
Christian name in its original form as "Filippo" : and so
on in other instances.

This explanation will show readers that what may seem
an odd system of mixed nomenclature does not arise from
carelessness; and they will probably be grateful for as little
Anglicising as possible when they come across some of the
double names that appear pretty often. Pierfrancesco, for
instance, and Gianbatista, are soft and graceful appellations
in their native contracted form; but who could endure to
see "Peter Francis" or "John Baptist"?

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE

Preface v

On the Mystical Life, by Father BERTRAND WILBERFORCE, O.P. xvii

CHAPTER I
St Catherine's Family — Birth (1522) and Early Years ... i

CHAPTER II

Alessandrina's Vocation — Her stay at Monticelli — Return to her

Father's House — Search for a suitable Convent 7

CHAPTER III

Alessandrina at the Villa San Paolo — She hears about the Con-
vent of San Vincenzio from its Begging Sisters — Gets her
Father's consent to visit it — Her compulsory Return to Flo-
rence— She falls ill — Her Miraculous Cure — Final entry into
San Vincenzio 19

CHAPTER IV

Alessandrina receives the Habit (1535) and with it the name of
Catherine — Her Novitiate and its Trials — Her Profession
(1536) 28

CHAPTER V

History of San Vincenzio at Prato and its Foundresses — Fresh
Trials, Illness and Miraculous Recovery of Catherine — Restor-
ation to favour with the Community — Second Illness and
Second Cure — Doubts as to her Extraordinary States finally
dispelled — Further Trials and Supernatural Helps — Her
Victories over the Devil 38

CHAPTER VI

Some Joys accompanying Catherine's Trials — Our Lord changes

her Heart — Beginning of her Great Ecstasy of the Passion . 57

CHAPTER VII

The Ecstasy of the Passion Examined by both Provincial and Gene-
ral of the Order — Their favourable Verdict — Other Doubts
set at rest — The " Canticle of the Passion " revealed to
Catherine .,.,.,,., 68

xiv ST CATHERINE DE' RICC1

PAGE

CHAPTER VIII

Mystic Espousals of the Saint with Jesus Christ — Our Lord gives
her the Ring — Her Sacred Stigmata — Her Crown of Thorns
— Favours bestowed on her through a Miraculous Crucifix . 79

CHAPTER IX

Catherine's Love for her Family — Her anxiety about their Con-
cerns— Beginning of her Correspondence with them (1542) • 88

CHAPTER X

Catherine's Demeanour during her Great Ecstasy — How the Fame
of it spreads beyond the Convent — The Saint's personal
Virtues, Penances and Humility in the midst of her fame —
The Pope's Commissioners pronounce in her favour . . . 1 09

CHAPTER XI

Catherine's Mission to the Sixteenth Century — The great person-
ages of Italy throng to Prato — The Saint made Sub-Prioress
(1547) — Death of M. Raffaella de' FaSnza — Catherine's influ-
ence on Souls — Her Miraculous Power of converting Sinners
and expiatory Offerings for them — Her Devotion to the Souls
in Purgatory - 125

CHAPTER XII

Work as Sub-Prioress within the Community — She is named
Prioress (1552) — Death of her Uncle, Fra Timoteo — St
Catherine's Spiritual Teaching and Conferences in Chapter —
She is delivered, at her own prayer, from outward manifesta-
tions of her Great Ecstasy (1554) 141

CHAPTER XIII

Mother Catherine's internal Government of her Community —

Her character as Prioress — Her standard of Religious Life . 1 60

CHAPTER XIV

Filippo Salviati and his services to San Vincenzio — The Saint's in-
fluence on and correspondence with him 177

CHAPTER XV

St Catherine and her Brothers — Correspondence with Ridolfo and
Vincenzio — Visit of the Bavarian Prince to Prato — Prophecy
of St Charles Borromeo's miraculous escape 195

CONTENTS xv

PAGE

CHAPTER XVI

Some correspondence of St Catherine with Superiors of her Order

— The Affair of Convent Enclosure 211

CHAPTER XVII

The Saint's " Spiritual Sons" : Religious and Laymen — Her Letters

to some of them 223

CHAPTER XVIII

Later years of St Catherine's Life — Her relations with St Mary
Magdalen de' Pazzi — With St Philip Neri — Her friendly
intercourse with Seculars — Her spirit of Poverty in Sickness —
Her increasing Humility and desire of self-affacement shown
by a final act 248

CHAPTER XIX

The Saint's Interior Life during her latter years — Her last Illness
— Death (1590) — And Funeral — Posthumous Apparitions
and Miracles — Opening of the Cause of her Beatification —
Celebrated Incident in the Process — She is Beatified (1732)
— Her Relics translated — She is Canonized (1746) . . . 258

APPENDIX

List of Original Sources for St Catherine de' Ricci's Life . . . 275
Index 277

ON THE MYSTICAL LIFE

BY FATHER BERTRAND WILBERFORCE, O.P.

THE writer of this Life of St Catherine de' Ricci has asked
me to help readers by pointing out what is meant by " the
Mystical Life." This may assist those who have not read
any work on mystical theology to understand better the
dealings of almighty God with souls who, like St Catherine,
are led by His special grace into close union with His
divine Majesty.

The first fact evident about St Catherine is that a great
part of the interest and importance of her life belongs to
its hidden and mystical aspect. Externally, her biographer
has but few striking events to record of her, having not very
much more to tell than might be told of many Christian
maidens who have led an innocent early life in their fathers'
homes, and then left them for the cloister, where, after
finishing their course, they have died a holy death.

This almost sums up the outward life of St Catherine
de' Ricci. There were certain exceptions to such an ordinary
career in her case, as will be seen; but, speaking generally,
she did no visible work that the world would admire. Un-
like St Catherine of Siena, to whose mystical life hers bore
much resemblance, she had no public calling which would
have broughther before men. She spent her life in a secluded
convent, and for the most part in a constant round of duties
that the world would despise as trivial, and that many would
be inclined to condemn as useless.

The wonders of her life were hidden with Christ in God.
They were mystical in the first and widest sense of that word,
namely, being hidden, secret, invisible to the eye of man.
A mystery is a hidden thing, invisible not only to the bodily
eye but also to the mental and rational sight, being above
and beyond the comprehension of man. God Himself is the
deepest of all mysteries, and His divine Life, that never

xviii ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

began, can never change and will never end, is the most
mysterious, the most mystical of all possible lives.

What is most wonderful in the life of St Catherine is
thus secret and invisible. The intense interest of the history
of souls like hers consists in studying, as far as possible, the
progress of their inner life and the process by which al-
mighty God drew them into closest intimacy and most
exalted union with Himself.

If we desire a short yet comprehensive description of
the mystical life, we cannot have a better than that given by
St Paul in his Epistle to the Colossians.*

The Christian mystic is one who being "risen with
Christ, seeks the things that are above, where Christ is
sitting at the right hand of God; one who minds the things
that are above, not the things that are upon the earth."

St Catherine was eminent among these, and of her it
could be truly said at any time of her mortal life here be-
low: "You are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in
God." And we can add with infallible certainty of her :
"When Christ, who is our life shall appear, then shall you
also appear with Him in glory." f

A mystical life therefore, though a very real life, is
hidden; it is concealed by the bright cloud that makes God
invisible. It is a life more true, more beneficial, more noble
and exalted than any merely natural life, but it is secret,
invisible and spiritual.

St Thomas gives secret and hidden as the first meaning
of" mystical," and in treating of the word secret^ in his com-
mentary on the words of Isaias,£ " My secret to me, my
secret to me," the holy doctor tells us why the wonders of
God are, for the most part, secret and veiled from the eyes
of men.

i . They are hidden from many on account of their very
greatness, as our Lord said of the grace of perpetual chastity,
"All men take not" (cannot understand) " this word, but
they to whom it is given. "§ In another place also He said,
"I have spoken to you earthly things, and you believe

* Col. iii, 4. f Col. iv, 1-5. £ xxiv, 16, Vulgate. § Matt, xix, n.

ON THE MYSTICAL LIFE xix

not; how will you believe if I shall speak to you heavenly
things?"*

2. A second reason for the secret nature of God's divine
operations is on account of their supreme dignity, as our
Lord explains to His apostles, saying: " To you it is given
to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to
them it is not given. "f

3. Many things are hidden from certain souls because
they are unfit to receive them and too carnal-minded to
understand them. " Give not that which is holy to dogs,
and cast not your pearls before swine, lest perhaps they may
trample them under their feet, and turning upon you they
may tear you." J

From this principle came the "discipline of the secret"
in primitive ages, when such sacred doctrine as the Real
Presence was kept carefully from the knowledge of those
outside the Church.

It is a maxim of the spiritual life that the more we love,
the more we know. In illustration of this, a story told of
Gregory Lopez, a very simple man, but a high contempla-
tive, comes to the mind. Knowing that Philip II, King of
Spain, when the candle was put into his hand at death, had
exclaimed, " Now for the great secret," Gregory said as he
himself held the death candle, " No longer any secret for
me," and smiled with joy as he went to his Lord.

The life of our Lady and the wonders of God in her
soul were all mystical, in the sense of being secret, hidden
from the eyes of men. Her outward and visible life was
that of a village maiden, afterwards married to a working-
man, the village carpenter, and with great simplicity and
humility doing the various duties of her state of life. That
she, alone among the daughters of Eve, was conceived im-
maculate ; that she was chosen to be the Mother of God
Incarnate; that she was sinless and destined to be the spiri-
tual Queen of Heaven, were all favours of God utterly
hidden, known only by revelation.

Every one has two lives; the outward one made up of
the daily actions of the visible life, and the inner life of the

* John iii, 12. f Matt, xiii, n. JMatt. vii, 6.

xx ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

soul, consisting for the most part of desires, thoughts and
affections. When the soul is living in God's grace and is
moved by the Holy Spirit, this inward life is supernatural,
and, in a wide sense, we may call it a mystical life. But the
proper signification of "mystical" is attained when the inner
life of the soul is raised above the common, and consists in
an extraordinary degree of union with God in both know-
ledge and love.

What we mean then by saying that St Catherine was a
"mystic," is that she led a life, by God's grace, of most exalted
and perfect contemplation of God and of fruitful, as well as
most sweet, love of Him, intimately present and united to
her soul.

No one, manifestly, could attain to this state by his own
exertions. It must be a special and singular gift of God. No
human effort could possibly attain to the lowest state of true
contemplation, in the sense in which that word is used in
mystical theology, without the gift of God ; for contempla-
tion means the supernatural visit of God Himself to the
soul, filling the intellect with wonderful knowledge of Him-
self and uniting the will to Himself in the close embrace of
spiritual love. In this state God illuminates the soul by be-
stowing on it a simple intuition* of Himself with a most
ardent movement of love. This visit is sometimes of very
short duration, but however brief it repays all the trials and
pains, whether of soul or body, that have preceded it.

It will be useful here to lay down a few elementary
principles of mystical theology, drawn from St Thomas and
other holy and approved authors.

i. In the first place, what is meant by mystical theology?
Theology (0eos and Xoyo?) is the science that deals with and
discourses about God, and the things of God. It is manifest
that we can consider the infinite nature of God in many
ways. We can point out how far the human mind can know
God by the mere light of reason. The department of theo-
logy that does this is called "natural theology." Then we can
proceed to consider what revelation makes known to us

* An "intuition" means simple and direct mental sight without process of reason-
ing. We all see by intuition that light is not darkness, black is not white, that a partis
less than the whole, etc.

ON THE MYSTICAL LIFE xxi

about God, considered in Himself and in His works. This
is called " Dogmatic Theology." Moral theology treats of
God's law, pointing out what He commands and forbids.

Spiritual theology teaches how the soul of man is to
work out the great end of its creation, which is to become
united with God in intellect and will, by faith and love.
Spiritual Theology is divided into ascetical and mystical
theology.

Ascetical theology lays down the ordinary rules which
apply to all men, showing how they are to avoid sin in
order to please God, and what they must do in order to
become united to Him.

Mystical theology ascends higher and instructs men as
to what they must do to prepare themselves for the gift of
contemplation, in case God should deign to bestow it on them.

Mystical theology therefore differs from dogmatic (or
scholastic) theology because, instead of being merely specu-
lative and abstract, it is practical, and from moral and
ascetical theology because it is not content to show men
how to avoid sin and attain salvation and ordinary virtue,
but treats of the more excellent way of love, and of that
intimate union with God in this world which is the fore-
taste of heavenly glory.

The end and object of mystical theology, or the science
of true wisdom and of the secret of divine union, is to
guide the soul of man into the most perfect degree of the
love of God.

Mystical theology is therefore a sublime science, since
it points out to man the way to ascend to God. It is, more-
over, of extreme utility because it is the true practical
wisdom, not consisting merely in theoretical disputations
"which minister questionings," but showing how we are
to avoid evil and become closely united to the infinite
good. It directs us at once to "the end of the command-
ment— charity — from a pure heart and a good conscience,
and faith unfeigned."*

The spiritual life in general is considered to have three
principal divisions, through which in some degree all those

* I Tim. i, 4, 5.

xxii ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

who save their souls must pass. They are indicated in
Psalm xxx Hi, 15 :

Depart from evil, and do good;
Seek peace and pursue it.

"Depart from evil." The purification of the soul from
all sin, mortal and venial, and from all affections and desires
that are not for God, is the first stage of the spiritual life,
and is called the "purgative state," or the state of puri-
fication.

"Do good." These two words indicate the second stage
of the soul's life, which is called the " illuminative state,"
and consists in meditating on and practically imitating the
life and virtues of Jesus Christ, the light of the world. The
third stage is called the "unitive way," because the purified
soul, formed after the model of Christ, does all that is pos-
sible to unite itself to God in perfect love.

In these three ways, the ways of the Lord, all must walk
continually. The beginner, though still unpurified, must try
to follow our Lord and to be united to God by love, and
the soul most advanced in perfection will always find defects
to be amended and virtue to be practised more generously.
But at first the chief work will be to purify the soul, while
after a time the main object will be to form virtuous habits
by imitating the life of Christ, and at last the union of love
will be the one absorbing thought and desire. This union
can be always made more and more perfect; it can increase
without measure.

Before proceeding further it will be useful to explain
what is meant by the term " spiritual life," and what is
understood by "union with God," for many use these words
without any very definite idea of their meaning.

By spiritual life is meant habitual or sanctifying grace.
This grace is a supernatural gift of God, poured into our
souls by the Holy Spirit, and remaining there clothing the
soul as a habit. It is not a passing movement of the Spirit
of God, but something dwelling in the soul and raising it
to a supernatural state. The effect of this noble gift of God's
goodness is to make the soul holy, righteous and pleasing

ON THE MYSTICAL LIFE xxiii

to God. It makes us the adopted children of God, the mem-
bers of Christ and heirs of the kingdom of heaven. This
abiding grace is the source of all good to us in the super-
natural order, the root, of virtues, of meritorious actions,
of the sight and love of God. Without it we can do nothing
to merit eternal life or to promote supernatural union
with God.

Our Lord declares that to bestow on us this great prin-
ciple of spiritual good was the precise object of the Incar-
nation: "I have come that they may have life, and may
have it more abundantly."* St Thomas f teaches us that as
the soul gives life to the body, so God giveth life to the
soul, and the holy doctor quotes the words "He is thy life." J
He is the cause of the supernatural life of the soul by
bestowing on it habitual and abiding grace.

The soul of man, the principle of life, has certain powers
by which it acts, which we call intellect and will. These are
necessary for every rational act. In like manner the habitual
grace of God has certain virtues by means of which it acts
in the supernatural order, and these powers are faith, hope
and charity which unite the soul to God. The moral vir-
tues are also infused into the soul when it receives super-
natural grace and charity, even though they may have been
acquired before by the light of reason and practised as
natural virtues.

But in order that these virtues may produce their fruit
actually, the help of God by actual grace is necessary. These
actual graces are movements of the Holy Ghost. These graces
are necessary because man is so weak, that he cannot even
use the virtues poured by God into his soul, without actual
light given to the mind and strength to the will. "Without
Me you can do nothing." §

God is so generous that besides grace making us holy
aud pleasing to Him, and actual graces (light and strength)
continually bestowed upon us, we have also the gifts of the
Holy Ghost, which are poured into the soul in baptism.

St Thomas shows at some length II that these gifts are

* John x, lo. t I, II, qu. i 10, art. i ad 2. f Deuteronomy xxx, 20.
§ John xv, 5. || la 2ae, qu. 68, art. I.

xxiv ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

really distinct from virtues, though some virtues, e.g., forti-
tude, are called by the same names.

Of these gifts, four perfect the reason or intellectual
faculty, namely, wisdom, knowledge, understanding and
counsel: and three perfect the will, or the power of desire,
and these are, fortitude, piety and the fear of the Lord.

On this interesting, though rather abstruse subject, St
Thomas writes as follows:

" In order to distinguish the gifts from the virtues, we
must follow the way of speaking we find in Scripture, in
which they are described to us not indeed under the name
of gifts, but of spirits. For we read, " The spirit of the Lord
shall rest upon Him [Christ], the spirit of wisdom," etc.*

Now these words clearly give us to understand that the
seven gifts here enumerated are within us by divine inspira-
tion. But inspiration implies a certain movement from
outside ourselves. For we must remember that in man
there is a twofold principle moving the soul: one in the
soul itself, which is our reason; the other exterior, which
is God.

It is clear that everything that is moved must bear
proportion to the mover. If we consider a thing as able to
be moved, its perfection in that respect would consist in
being able to be well and easily moved by the one moving
it. By how much therefore the mover is higher in his nature,
the one moved ought to be disposed to movement by a
more perfect disposition ; as, for example, a more perfect
state of mental activity is necessary in a pupil to take in a
more difficult teaching of his professor.

Now it is evident that human virtues perfect a man's
natural reason, for it is natural for a man to be moved by
reason in those things he does, whether within his soul or
in outward action.

It is necessary, therefore, for the human soul to have
certain higher perfections to put him into the right state
to receive divine movements, and these perfections are called
"gifts," not only because they are poured into the soul by

* Isa. xi, 2.

ON THE MYSTICAL LIFE xxv

God, but also because by them the human soul is put into
such a state that it can be promptly moved by the divine
inspiration. This state is indicated by Isaias, in the words:
" The Lord God hath opened my ear, and I do not resist:
I have not gone back."

Habitual or sanctifying grace, with the abiding virtues
and gifts of the Holy Spirit, are bestowed in baptism on
every Christian ; but, over and above, God often adorns
His friends with certain special favours, which are called
" graces freely or gratuitously given." They are thus called
because they are not essential for salvation or for holiness,
but are ornaments and treasures by which the spiritual
favourites of the King are enriched. We see a type of this
in the natural talents and advantages given to some men
and not possessed by others. Some have remarkable musical
or artistic powers, others inherit great riches and honours,
others enjoy extraordinary literary or poetical gifts. These
special talents are not necessary to perfect their nature.
Those who have no sign of them are equally men, though
they lack many advantages which the ones enriched by
these special talents enjoy.

In the spiritual and supernatural order also God is
pleased to single out certain select souls and to bestow on
them, according to His will, certain graces that do not
render them more holy, but make them wonderful and
illustrious among His servants.

St Paul enumerates some of these special endowments
in his first epistle to the Corinthians.f Among these royal
favours are included the gifts of prophecy, of miraculous
healing, reaching the hearts of others, and wonderful inter-
course with the unseen world by visions, ecstasies, raptures
and other things. These are not necessary for salvation or
perfection, but are freely bestowed upon His faithful ser-
vants, chiefly for the good of others, though sometimes as
the reward of virtue. They do not increase sanctifying grace,
and therefore do not render those that receive them more
holy or more pleasing to God. They are rather signs of
virtue and of God's good pleasure. After St Peter had cured

* Isa. 1, 5. +i Cor. xii, 8-u.

xxvi ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

the lame man,* he was no holier than before, but the
wonderful sign showed the people that God was with him,
and made them more willing to listen to his teaching.

Having laid down these elementary principles we shall
be more easily able to understand the extraordinary events
in the lives of saints like St Catherine de' Ricci.

The spiritual life is essentually the same in every soul.
Every baptized person receives sanctifying grace, as the
principle of all holy life, and with it the supernatural virtues
and the gifts of the Holy Ghost. All have to be purified
from sin, to practise virtue, and to be united to God by
charity. But some do this much more perfectly than others.
Many pass through their whole lives without much pro-
gress. Constantly falling away from God by sin they come
to the end of their probation very little purified, with very
weak virtue and slight union with God, leaving the work
of their purification to be accomplished in the next world.
Others make holiness the one object of their lives, and at-
tain, by God's grace, to very intimate union with Him even
in this mortal state. Of these the Holy Ghost says : "The
path of the just as a shining light, goeth forwards and in-
creaseth even unto perfect day."f

Before proceeding further it will be useful to explain
what is meant by the state of contemplation. We often hear
of the contemplative orders, the Carthusians and Cistercians
among men, and the Carmelites and Poor Clares for women.
Those who enter these orders adopt a quiet life of prayer
and penance instead of devoting their energies to works of
charity. The members of these Orders are called contempla-
tive Religious, or members of a contemplative Order, but
they are not on that account in "a state of contemplation,"
in the sense that mystical theology understands that term.

Contemplation is a free gift of God to a faithful soul.
It is a divine visit made by God to the soul, enlightening
it and uniting it in most ardent and sweet love with Him-
self. In this supernatural state the soul, in some way, sees
God, not by the indirect way of reasoning and meditation
but by a simple intuition or spiritual sight. This heavenly
visit may vary very much in details, as regards intensity,

* Acts iii. f Prov. iv, 18.

ON THE MYSTICAL LIFE xxvii

duration and the like, for being a perfectly gratuitous favour
of almighty God, it is evident that no rules can he laid
down in the matter.

Writers of mystical theology treat of "ordinary" and
"extraordinary" contemplation.

Contemplation is described as "ordinary," not because
it is a common thing, but because it is an elevation of mind
into God, not by reasoning and meditation, but by simple
intuition, by means of special divine light and with most
ardent love, but still within the laws of God's ordinary
providence in dealing with holy souls. This kind of con-
templation is called in a certain sense "acquired," and may
be said in a measure to depend on the exertions of the soul,
but only in a limited sense. For it is a distinct gift of God
and without the free action of His grace it cannot be secured
by anything the soul can do or suffer. But the soul can dis-
pose itself for the divine visit, and thus invite God to come
and bestow His special favours upon it.

We must remember that this ordinary contemplation
is a supernatural state implying intense love of God and
entire submission to His will, and therefore is totally
different from a merely speculative and philosophical con-
templation of truth, which may carry away the mind, but
without any supernatural action of God. The main diffe-
rence consists in its being the action of God's grace on the
intellect and the will, and therefore not speculative only,
but implying also a vehement motion of love to God.

Benedict XIV, in his work on the canonization of saints,
describes contemplation as being " a simple intellectual
intuition (or mental insight) of divine things with the
relish of love." This proceeds from a special action of God
on the intellect and will, by which the soul sees and realizes
divine truths. The soul is attracted and drawn into God by
a singular brightness of light in the intellect and united to
Him by burning love in the will.

The words of Psalm xxxiii, 9, "Taste and see how sweet
the Lord is"; and Psalm xlv, n, "Be still and see that
I am God," are considered to refer particularly to the soul
when thus visited by God. Also the Beatitude, "Blessed
are the clean of heart for they shall see God." For, though

xxv

ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

in this life in the body we cannot see the divine essence,
still these words of our Lord seem to imply that a soul
truly purified can be raised by His light to a simple intui-
tion of His presence.

There is such a thing as a merely natural rapture, by
which a man is carried out of himself, and loses conscious-
ness of where he is or what he is doing or suffering by
intense concentration of the mind on one thought. In such
cases the rapture is only partial.

This is a power we often see in the lives of eminent
thinkers. Sir Isaac Newton, Gladstone, Newman, and many
others, had this power of concentration of mind in a marked
degree. St Thomas Aquinas possessed it, as few others ever
did. We are told that when the surgeons came to perform an
operation on his leg, the holy doctor so concentrated the
whole force of his mind upon the mystery of the blessed
Trinity, that he felt no pain. This need not have been
miraculous. It may have been the effect of intense concen-
tration of mind, amounting to entire rapture, the holy man
thus anticipating the merciful office of chloroform.

Quite different, however, not only in degree but in kind,
is the extraordinary contemplation of the saints.

Contemplation is called extraordinary when there is an
elevation of the mind into God by simple intuition and
most ardent affection of love, above the ordinary laws of
God's dealings with souls. We may call it miraculous con-
templation; for it is as miraculous in the order of grace as
it would be in the natural order to fly in the air, or to pass
through fire without injury.

Instances of this miraculous state of union with God are
found in the holy Scripture. One notable example is found
in the transfiguration of our Lord on Mount Thabor, during
which the three apostles were by special privilege allowed to
see His glory and were carried out of themselves by an
ecstasy of love, speaking words, yet " not knowing what
they said." *

Also the marvellous rapture described by St Paulf is
an example of miraculous contemplation of the highest kind,

* Mark ix, 5. -j- 2 Cor. xii.

ON THE MYSTICAL LIFE xxix

in which the apostle was " caught up," by the Spirit of God,
" into paradise, and heard secret or c mystical ' words which
it is not lawful for man to utter."

St Thomas in his commentary on 2 Cor. xii, considers
that the apostle speaks of two different raptures, one in
verse 2, in which (whether in the body or out of it he knew
not) he was " rapt to the third heaven "; and another in
which (again not knowing whether his soul left his body or
not) he was caught up to paradise, and saw the very essence
of God.

The first rapture, when his soul was rapt, or carried
away by the power of Christ, to the third heaven, is an
example of extraordinary contemplation resting on the au-
thority of the inspired word. St Thomas conjectures that it
took place during the three days in Damascus,* after his
conversion, which he passed in blindness and neither eating
nor drinking.

Whenever the miraculous ecstasy occurred, the apostle
declares that he was rapt, that is transported, out of him-
self, by the power of God. He had, in other words, a
mystical ecstasy.

As the soul possesses the twofold power of intellect
and will, the rapture may be principally directed to one or
the other, though both will be always acted upon, for the
soul is simple, and cannot really be divided.

If the effect is primarily on the will, then the soul is
carried away from the love of self to the intense love of
God and the things of God. A rapture of this nature is
called seraphic.

On the other hand, when the action of God affects
directly and principally the intellectual faculty which is out
of itself and is flooded with intellectual light, then the
rapture is called by mystical writers cherubic. In both
cases there is light and love, but in the first the will is
primarily and principally affected, and in the second the
intellect.

The rapture of St Paul was cherubic, because the first
and chief effect was the illumination of the intellect, though

* Acts ix.

xxx ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

accompanied, as in all true contemplation, with intense love
uniting the will to God.

The reason of raptures being called either cherubic or
seraphic is found in analogy to the two choirs of the angelic
host which are nearest God. These are the seraphim and
cherubim. The seraphim excel all the other choirs in that
which is the highest thing of all, in loving union with God,
and the cherubim know the divine secrets in the most
excellent degree.

A rapture, then, means an elevation of soul from a natural
to a supernatural state by the action of a higher power. The
raising up of the soul from the ordinary state of intellect
and will to an extraordinary condition by the action
of God.

St Paul, in describing his first rapture, says he was
carried " even to the third heaven." We may ask what is
meant by this expression?

One interpretation considers that allusion is made to
the air above us, the spaces of the sidereal heavens, and the
empyrean heaven, which was considered to be the highest
heaven, where the pure element of fire was supposed by
the ancients to subsist.

But this ancient notion, founded on mistaken notions
of the physical universe, was considered by St Thomas as
too material. So the holy doctor reminds us that there are
three kinds of vision:

1. Corporeal vision, with our material eyes, by which
we see and know bodily objects.

2. Imaginary vision by which we can form in the mind
the likeness of a material object that we have seen. The
imagination cannot represent things we have never seen

3. Intellectual vision, or sight, by which we can see the
natures of things in themselves. By this kind of sight we
see an abstract truth, for instance that a thing cannot be and
not be at the same time.

If these three kinds of sight are exercised in the ordi-
nary way they are simply natural. They cannot in any sense
be called "heavens."

But any one of them may be called "heaven," if they

ON THE MYSTICAL LIFE xxxi

come to be exercised by the action of God in a way above
the natural power of man.

1. If with the bodily eyes a man sees something above
the ordinary power of nature, he may be said to be rapt to
the first heaven. In this way was Baltassar or Belshazzar
affected when he saw the mysterious hand writing on the
wall.*

2. But if the soul is lifted up, and enabled to see, not an
object appearing to the eyes of the body, but some interior
image of the mind representing figuratively a supernatural
truth, then a man may be said to be carried to the second
heaven. An instance of this may be found in St Peter's
vision when he saw "heaven opened, and a certain vessel
descending unto him, as if it had been a great sheet knit
at the four corners, and let down to the earth; wherein were
all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts
and creeping things and fowls of the air, etc.f

This was a heavenly vision presented to the imagination,
to teach St Peter the Christian doctrine that not only the
Jews but all nations of the earth were called to the Catholic
Church and to salvation. St Peter was in an ecstasy, or as
the English version translates it, "a trance," during which,
having lost consciousness of outward things he was carried
to the "second heaven" and interiorly instructed by an
imaginary vision.

But St Paul tells us of his own case that he was carried
higher still, to "the third heaven," because he was so
utterly raised above all sensible and bodily things and
favoured with a vision of things purely intellectual in the
same way in which they are seen by the angels and souls
separated from their bodies. What is more wonderful, he
saw in this rapture even the essence of God Himself, as St
Augustine clearly maintains.^

Nor, continues St Thomas, is it probable that Moses,
the minister of the Old Testament to the Jews, should see
God, and the minister of the New Testament to the nations
and the doctor of the Gentiles should be deprived of this
privilege.

* Dan. v. t Acts x, n.

J XII super Gen. ad litt. et in Glossa et ad Paulin. in libr. de videndo Deum.

xxxii ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

Now it is clear that Moses did see the essence of God.
He asked this favour in so many words, saying "Show me
Thy Face."* Though it was at that time denied, we are not
told that his petition was finally rejected. St Augustine's
opinion is that it was conceded at some other time, and that
this is implied by the expressions in the book of Numbers,
where the Lord said: " Hear My words: if there be among
you a prophet of the Lord, I will appear to him in a vision
or speak to him in a dream; but it is not so with My servant
Moses, who is most faithful in all My house. For I speak
to him mouth to mouth, and plainly, not by riddles and
figures doth he see the Lord."f

For this transient sight of the Essence of God it was
necessary that St Paul should be carried completely above
all sensible and bodily things. It would be impossible for
God to be seen face to face in this life by a man not entirely
abstracted from all sensible things, because no image, no-
thing represented by the imagination, could be a medium
sufficient to show the essence of God. In order to see Him
a man must be rapt to the third heaven.

There is another way of interpreting the words " the
third heaven. "J There are in heaven three hierarchies of
angels, in each of which there are three choirs. These three
hierarchies may represent the three heavens, and, according
to this interpretation, St Paul was rapt to the third heaven
in this sense, that he saw the essence of God as clearly as
the angels of the highest hierarchy see Him. They, the
Cherubim and Seraphim and Thrones, see Him so clearly
that they are enlightened immediately by God Himself and
thus they know the divine mysteries. This same high illu-
mination was given to St Paul.

An objection might be made to this interpretation. It
might be said that, were this true, St Paul would have been
in his mortal life glorified and a "comprehensor" : that is,
one who enjoys the beatific vision.

But this was not so. Even though he did see the essence
of God he was not one of the glorified, because it was not

* Exod. xxxiii, 13. f Numbers xii, 6, 7, 8. J St Thomas in loco.

ON THE MYSTICAL LIFE xxxiii

4 permanent and abiding vision but only transient and
during his rapture.

We must notice that St Paul says of his rapture,
"Whether in the body, I know not, or out of the body, I
know not, God knoweth." In what sense are we to under-
stand this expression?

Some consider that by these words the apostle declares
that he did not know whether, in this rapture, his body, as
well as his soul, was carried away, or whether his soul only
ascended or was assumed into the third heaven; whether he
was carried up in a bodily way, as we read of Habacuc in
the last chapter of Daniel, or in the way Ezechiel describes
in the eighth chapter of his prophecy.

St Augustine and St Thomas do not admit this inter-
pretation, considering that if St Paul had been carried up,
in the body, into a corporeal heaven he must have known
it ; and therefore they interpret the passage to mean that the
apostle did not know whether, in that vision, his soul was
so utterly abstracted from all sensible things as to be for the
time entirely out of his body; or whether his soul was all
the time still animating the body and only raised in mind
above all sensible and corporeal things. The words of God
in Exodus, " Man shall not see Me and live,"* are con-
sidered to mean that man cannot see God unless the soul is
entirely separated from the bodily life, either in the sense
of being completely out of the body and separated from it,
as after death; or when, remaining still as the life of the
body, it is completely abstracted from sensible things : i.e.,
the second rapture.f

The difference between the two aforementioned visions
or raptures is that, in the first St Paul describes himself as
" rapt to the third heaven," and in the second as " caught
up into paradise."

If we accept the more spiritual meaning of the " third
heaven," as indicating that the soul did not receive a mere
imaginary vision, but entirely abstracted above all visible
and corporal things so as to see purely intellectual truths in
themselves, then there will be no distinction of place be-

* Exod. xxxiii. f 2 Cor. xii, 3, 4.

xxxiv ST CATHERINE DE* RICCI

tween the " third heaven " and " paradise." One and the
same is meant by both expressions, namely the glory of
the saints; but looked at from two different points of view.

For by the word "heaven" is meant a certain marvel-
lous elevation of mind with singular brightness of intellec-
tual light, while by the word " paradise " is indicated a
wonderfully high degree of joy and sweetness. In the first
is indicated primarily the illumination of the intellect and
in the second the delight of the will — light and sweetness.

The angels and the blessed who see God face to face
possess light and sweetness both in an excellent degree.
There is in their minds wonderful brightness of glory by the
light of which they see God, and intense sweetness which
comes from the possession and fruition of God. And there-
fore they may be said to be in "heaven," if we consider the
brightness of their vision, and in "paradise," if we consider
the sweetness and joy of their union with God. "You shall
see, and your hearts shall rejoice."

Both these gifts were bestowed upon the apostle in these
mystical visions, for he was lifted above all earthly things
into the very highest spiritual brightness of vision, and thus
was "rapt to the third heaven" ; and he moreover had joyful
experience of the sweetness of divine union, and thus was
"caught up into paradise."

" O how great is the multitude of Thy sweetness, O Lord,

Which Thou hast hidden from them that fear Thee,
Which Thou hast wrought for them that hope in Thee,
In the sight of the sons of men. "f

"To him that shall overcome I will give the hidden (or
mystical) manna. "£

This sweetness, this mystical manna, is the joy flowing
perpetually from the full possession of God, of which it is
said, "Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."§

The exalted nature of the ecstasy with which he was
favoured is shown by the following words. St Paul tells us
"he heard secret (or mystical) words, which it is not granted
to man to utter."

By the expression "he heard secret words "is meant that

* Isa. Ixiii, 14. + Ps. xxx, 20. + Apoc. ii, 17. § Matt. xxv.

ON THE MYSTICAL LIFE

XXXV

he perceived by the light of God in his soul, secret or un-
speakable things about the divine essence.

As St Paul was miraculously rapt from earth to heaven
and saw, in a passing manner, the very essence of God Him-
self, it is evident that it was impossible for him to describe
what had been communicated to him, in human language.
Words are symbols by which we convey to others the ideas
of our own mind, but these exalted truths were so much
above human ken that they were secret, mystical, incompre-
hensible to ordinary men.

Before speaking of this rapture, which was far more
wonderful than any related of St Catherine de' Ricci, St
Paul says: "If I must glory (it is not expedient indeed),
but I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord."

As St Catherine and the other mystics had so many
visions and revelations, it will be interesting to ask what is
the difference between them.

Every revelation, by which God makes known to the
human mind some truth by an inner and supernatural
light, may be called a vision. By the action of God, the soul
sees something invisible to unaided knowledge.

But, on the other hand, every vision is not a revelation.

It may happen that a man's soul receives a supernatural
communication from God, but the man understands not
the meaning of what is represented to him. In that case
there is a vision, but no revelation.

The visions of Pharao and of King Nabuchodonoser
were of this nature, and were not revelations.f

On the other hand, where there is an understanding of
the spiritual meaning of the thing seen, then there is a
revelation.

So Pharao and Nabuchodonoser had a vision only, but
Joseph and Daniel both a vision and a revelation.

Both the vision and the revelation are sometimes from
God. "There is God in heaven, who revealeth mysteries.''^

Sometimes, however, visions and revelations may come
from the evil spirit: "They [the prophets of Samaria]
prophesied in Baal and deceived My people Israel."'

* Gen. xli; Dan. ii. f Dan. ii, 28; compare Osee xii, 10. J Jer. xxiii, 13.

xxxvi ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

The apostle St Paul had both visions and revelations,
because the secret (mystical) things he saw he fully under-
stood by the action of the Lord, not by any deception of
the devil.

The word "revelation" signifies the taking away of a
veil that hides truth. This intellectual veil may be twofold:

1. The veil may be in the mind of the man who sees the
vision, and may be the effect of infidelity or want of faith,
sin or hardness of heart.*

2. Or the veil may be over the thing seen; when, that
is, a spiritual truth is represented to a man's mind under
sensible figures. Weak minds, weak in faith and love, can-
not take in spiritual things if they are presented to their
minds as they are in themselves. This is typified by the rule
given to the priests, that they should carry the vessels of
the sanctuary veiled. All things in the old law were figures
of the spiritual realities of the new dispensation; and this
is a type of the truth that souls weak in light and love (faith
and charity) are not able to understand, take in and see
spiritual things as they are in themselves. These things
must be represented to them under figures, allegories and
parables. Therefore our Lord spoke to the people in parables.
But to those more enlightened He said: "Blessed are your
eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear."f

Another dfaine Gift bestowed on God's Servants, not to
increase their Sanctity but for the good of other -s, is
that of Prophecy

i. What is meant by a Prophet?

The word is derived from a Greek word signifying to
foretell. A prophet, therefore, denotes a man who can see
certain things afar off. In early times a man thus en-
lightened was called a "seer," or "one able to see." J

Prophecy, then, is the sight of things afar off, either
because they are future and contingent (that is possible but
not necessary to occur), or because they are above the reason
of man and require supernatural light.

* 2 Cor. iii, 14. f Matt, xiii, 13. J i Kings ix.

ON THE MYSTICAL LIFE xxxvii

For prophecy, four things are necessary.

1. The first requisite is that in the imagination should
be formed the likenesses of those things that appear to the
mind; for it is impossible for a ray of divine light to shine
upon us unless wrapt in a variety of sacred veils.

2. The second thing required is intellectual illumina-
tion of the mind that it may know and understand the things
shown which are above natural knowledge. For unless the
one who sees the images formed in the imagination under-
stands their secret significance, he is a dreamer — not a pro-
phet— as Pharao was.

3. The third thing required for a prophet is boldness
to announce what has been communicated to his mind.

4. The fourth is the working of miracles done to show
the truth of the prophecy. For unless the prophet does
something above the power of nature, men will be slow to
believe that he can see the future by a supernatural light.

Different "Degrees

Sometimes a man appears in whom all these four things
are combined. He sees imaginary visions and, having the
knowledge of what they portend, he boldly proclaims it to
others, at the same time working miracles as the credentials
of what he foretells.* On the other hand, a man is some-
times called a prophet who has only imaginary visions, but
in a very indistinct and remote way.

Again, the name of prophet used to be given to one
who had intellectual light, which enabled him to explain
imaginary visions that have come to himself or others; or
to expound the dark sayings of the prophets or the writings
of the apostles. In this way any one is a prophet who under-
stands the writings of the wise, for by the same spirit from
whom they come are they interpreted. Solomon and David
are thus called prophets because they had intellectual light
by which they could see clearly the dark mysteries of God.
David's visions were intellectual only.

Moreover, in a wide sense, the name of prophet was
occasionally given to a man, only from the fact that he an-

* Numbers xii, 6.

xxxviii ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

nounced or explained the sayings of the prophets or sang
them in church, and in this way it was said that Saul was
among the prophets, that is, among those who chanted the
words of the prophets.

Lastly, a man who has the gift of miracles is sometimes
called a prophet, as, for instance, when it is said of Eliseus,
"After death his body prophesied," * that is, his relics
worked a miracle.

What St Paul says in chapter xiv of i Corinthians is to
be understood of those who are prophets in the second sense,
namely, by being able through divine intellectual light, to
explain the meaning of visions shown to himself or to others.

Gift of Tongues

In the primitive Church there were few to whom was
given the office of preaching the faith of Christ through the
world, therefore our Lord, for the more easy spreading of
the word of salvation to a greater number, bestowed on
preachers the gift of tongues, by which they might announce
salvation to all. They spoke all languages. "I thank God
that I speak with all your tongues." f Many in the primi-
tive church had this gift from God.

The Corinthians desired this gift more than that of
prophecy. When the Apostle then writes of "speaking with
tongues," he means speaking in an unknown tongue and
being understood; as, for instance, if a man spoke in German
to a French man, who was ignorant of German, and was
understood.

Many saints received the gift of tongues, either speak-
ing in their own language and being understood by those
who knew not their tongue, or speaking miraculously
languages they had not learnt. St Vincent Ferrer, St Lewis
Bertrand, St Francis Xavier and many others, are instances
of this wonderful gift.ijl

In the light of these instances of the higher mystical

* Ecclus xlviii, 14. t i Cor. xiv, 18, and Acts i.

£ In the first Epistle to the Corinthians (xiv) the Apostle seems to speak of the gift
of tongues as merely, or at least chiefly, bestowed as a sign of the indwelling Spirit.
Neither the speakers nor the hearers appeared always to have understood.

ON THE MYSTICAL LIFE xxxix

life, from St Paul, explained to us by St Thomas, we are
more able to understand the life of St Catherine and the
other mystics and the wonderful favours bestowed on them
by our Lord.

St Catherine was an instance of one chosen and singled
out by God for the state of extraordinary contemplation,
which means that she was visited, or acted upon, by His
divine Majesty in a miraculous manner.

She was prepared for this state of extraordinary union
with God from her infancy. God took possession of her
soul in a special way, not granted to ordinary people, and
He bestowed upon her extraordinary lights and helps to
prepare her for her future union with Himself by charity.

At what period of her life she first received the gift of
contemplation it is difficult to say. The ordinary rule is that
the gift is not bestowed on any soul that has not undergone
a long and painful course of purification, so as to become,
by cleanness of heart, "the King's friend." "He that loveth
cleanness of heart .... shall have the King for his friend."*

This purification from the least and most hidden vestige
of self-love is generally a long and painful process, in which
are recognized two different stages, which may be either
simultaneous or succeeding each other. The first is called
the active, the second the passive, purification.

In the first the soul is purified by what it does itself,
with God's grace. All kinds of austerities that afflict the
body are of this class and especially all self-restraint that
mortifies the inner powers of the soul. In it is included the
whole region of mortification, exterior as well as interior.

The second stage is much more painful and searching.
It is when God takes the direct management of the purifying
process into His own hands, and begins to cleanse the soul
Himself: the soul is then passive under His divine touch.

Those who have read the Life of Blessed Henry Suso
will remember how, after several years of strict austerity
and brave penance, he was told that he might now cast away
his instruments of corporal mortification. He was delighted,
and describes in his simple, childlike way, the joy of being

* Prov. xxii, n.

xl ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

delivered from these hard and difficult exercises. Then he is
shown under the figure of an old cloth, tossed up and down,
carried hither and thither, torn and rent by the teeth of a
dog, how God was now about to take his soul into His own
hands, and that torn clout was an image of how his soul
must be treated. Descending into the cloister Blessed Henry
rescued the cloth from the dog and preserved it with great
care as the image of himself.

Then he was subjected to such a series of searching
trials without and within, calumny, persecution, sickness,
temptation, aridity and desolation, that all the austerities
and penances he had inflicted on himself appeared to him
as mere child's play.

Of these terrible sufferings he lovingly complains to the
Eternal Wisdom in his Dialogue, saying: " It may well be,
Lord, that afflictions are most wholesome, if only they are
not too great. But, O Lord God, who alone knowest all
hidden things, Thou Thyself dost see that my sufferings
now are without measure and entirely beyond my strength."
To this the Eternal Wisdom replies: " From thy own expe-
rience surely thou hast learnt that the crosses sent by Me
(the passive purification), if a man knows how to use them
aright, come more home, penetrate more deeply and more
quickly urge a man to give himself to God and in a way
force him into God, than any chosen by his own will" (active
purification).

What is the object of all this suffering, of all this long
series of painful afflictions of body and soul ? It is to cleanse
the soul, to cast out self-love, to prepare the inner sanctu-
ary of the spirit to be the marriage-chamber in the spiritual
nuptials between God and the soul.

And what is meant by purifying or cleansing the soul ?
It is an allegory taken from the idea of cleaning a room or
washing stains from the hands or face or from white gar-
ments. The cleansing of the soul must be the casting out of
the memory and intellect every thought that is not God or
for God. This is, in other words, making the soul love God
with its whole mind. The memory has to be so completely
mortified before God can visit the soul, as to remember

ON THE MYSTICAL LIFE xli

nothing but God, and the things necessary to be remem-
bered for the service of God. In like manner the intellect
must be so restrained as to be occupied only with God and
the things of God.

This no doubt renders very holy men not such pleasant
companions to those who are in a lower state of soul. They
can take interest in few things. Their thoughts and desires
are all entirely centred on God and invisible things. They
can take a lively interest in nothing else. So we are told of
St Dominic that he could talk only of God or to God, be-
cause his memory and intellect were full of the thought of
God and nothing else.

Besides this, the will has to be purified. What is meant
by having the heart and will, the desires and affections
made clean and pure? Pure means unmixed. Pure water,
pure wine, are not mingled with any other substance. Wine
mixed with water is not pure wine. The human will is
likewise pure when it has one only desire — God and union
with God. This must be the state of the soul before it can
be ready for the supernatural visit of God, called con-
templation. All self-love must be entirely excluded. The
movement of grace must be the beginning of every de-
liberate action, and God's glory must be its end. The love
of God, that is the desire to please God, must be the
motive for doing or not doing everything, the will of God
must be the rule regulating every action, whilst the presence
of God must be the sunshine illuminating and animating
everything.*

This is a simple process of prayer, of which all are
capable, but mystical contemplation is impossible without
the special and gratuitous visit of God to the soul.

For this happy and holy state the soul must have learnt
complete, prompt and perpetual submission to God's will,

* In the Spiritual exercises of St Ignatius some exercises are called meditations, others
contemplations. The word "contemplation" here means something quite distinct from
the supernatural visit of God, either ordinary or miraculous. In the exercises called
"meditations" the principle thing is the discourse of the mind reasoning about the sub-
ject, in order to draw the will to prayer; in the exercises called "contemplations" the
soul looks at the mystery as a kind of picture, without so much reasoning, and speaks
to those seen in the picture, listens to them, watches them, etc.

xlii ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

and this heavenly knowledge can be acquired nowhere save
in the school of suffering, the divine school of the cross.

Give sorrow leave awhile to tutor me
To this submission.

Nothing else than the cross can give this submission,
absolute, entire, unhesitating, cheerful and loving, to God's
will.

When the soul has been thus purified, God may, if He
pleases and when He pleases, bestow upon it the grace of
contemplation, either in an ordinary or in an extraordinary
manner, in divers degrees and for different lengths of time.

All this may be traced in the life of any saint. In St
Catherine we have an instance of a soul purified in great
measure from early childhood, kept clean from sin and
unruly desire by the indwelling Spirit of God, though not
without her own co-operation. Therefore much less purifica-
tion was necessary, and the gift of ordinary contemplation
was evidently bestowed at a very early age. The more
wonderful favour of extraordinary contemplation was be-
stowed also at an early age, or perhaps from the very
beginning.

God intended her light not to be under a bushel, but to
be put on a candlestick, that it might shine unto all that are
in the house of His Church. Therefore he added many won-
derful "graces freely given," such as visions, raptures, pro-
phecies, miracles and other extraordinary manifestations of
His wisdom, goodness and power.

These things, it should be remembered, did not make
St Catherine holy. She would have been as holy without
them. Her holiness consisted in the high degree of sanctify-
ing grace and union with God to which she was raised by the
Divine Majesty.

But without these signs of God's special favour she might
have remained one of the vast multitude of hidden saints, not
recognized on earth.

Having a special work to accomplish, as the instrument
of God, in the Church and for individual souls, it was neces-
sary that she should be favoured by many outward and

ON THE MYSTICAL LIFE xliii

visible manifestations of God's special and miraculous deal-
ings with her soul.

From what has been said it follows that the words
"mystic," "mystical," "mysticism" are often used in mo-
dern literature in a sense very different from that in which
Catholic writers employ them. Often indeed it is not easy to
understand what modern authors do mean by these phrases,
and perhaps the writers themselves could not very clearly
explain. It might indeed be considered almost as profane to
demand a definition of so vague an idea, as it would be to
inquire of certain modern poets what exactly they meant by
their verses. They express probably a kind of universal ten-
dency of general vagueness that cannot be precisely defined.

Thus, philosophical writers are sometimes described as
"mystical " who have a symbolical way of looking at ab-
stract truths. Again writers of fiction often describe their
characters as "mystically inclined," because their minds have
a tinge of melancholy and regard ethical or religious truth in
a dreamy, imaginative and unpractical kind of way.

The Catholic mystical theologians have on the other
hand, as has been shown in this essay, a very definite and
precise meaning when they use the word mysticism, and
can indicate very clearly what they signify by calling a man
a mystic or by saying that he walked in mystical ways.

They mean that the soul was chosen by our Lord to lead
a life of close and constant union with God. Such a soul, in
a most perfect way, realizes the ideal held out by St Paul in
the words: "Always rejoice, pray without ceasing, in all
things give thanks." *

A mystic in this real and highest sense fully appreciates
that lovely distich of Cowper, who possessed so religious a
mind that, had he only been a Catholic, he might himself have
walked in mystical ways, instead of being driven into mad-
ness by the blasphemous horrors of Calvinism.

These two lines St Catherine herself might have written,
in her highest union of mystical love:

Give what Thou wilt, without Thee we are poor,

And rich with Thee, take what Thou wilt away.

* i Thess. v, 1 6.

xliv ST CATHERINE DE' RICC1

St Paul, as we can easily draw from what he has written
in his epistles, was an eminent mystic. We have already
seen how he was favoured by the highest visions, raptures
and revelations.

His hidden, secret (that is mystical), life of union with
God can be gathered from incidental sayings about him-
self in his various epistles.

A man who is a Christian mystic lives an entirely super-
natural life, having no object he desires in this world;
and St Paul could say with full truth: "I live, now not I,
but Christ liveth in me."*

A mystic is one who has no inclination for anything
earthly, having tasted and found by experience how sweet
the Lord is; and St Paul declares: "I count all things to
be but loss, for the excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ
our Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and
count them as dung, that I may gain Christ."

A mystic has one and only one desire, union with God.
St Paul testifies this concerning himself. Nothing else did
he desire in life or death, nothing else could satisfy the
hunger and quench the thirst of his soul. So he exclaimed:
" To me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain." f

A mystic is one utterly abandoned without reserve, in
life and death, to Jesus Christ, and St Paul tells us: " With
Christ, 1 am nailed the cross." £

A man walking in mystical ways speaks of himself as
annihilated in Jesus Christ, in the sense that natural life is
of no value to him except in as far as by it he can give glory
to Jesus Christ, and what but this is expressed in those sub-
lime words, "Now also shall Christ be magnified in my
body, whether by life or by death" ?§

Mystical writers speak of holy people being transformed
into Jesus Christ, meaning by this strong expression the in-
timate union of the purified soul with our Lord, and St Paul
says that he bore in his very body "the marks of the Lord
Jesus."||

The mystical mind has so put on the Lord Jesus that it

*Gal. ii, 20. t Phil, i, 21. J Gal. ii, 19. § Phil, i, 20.
|| Gal. vi, 17.

ON THE MYSTICAL LIFE xlv

looks on everything in the same light that He did, and this
St Paul meant when he described himself as "not knowing
anything, but Jesus Christ and Him crucified."

The will of a man in mystical ways is entirely and for
ever united to the Will of God, expressed by that short,
simple yet comprehensive aspiration of the Apostle, "Lord,
what wilt Thou have me to do ? "

Lastly, the whole object of the mystical soul is to imi-
tate and reproduce the character and life of Jesus Christ,
and how perfectly did St Paul accomplish this before he
exhorted the Corinthians to follow his example: "Be ye
imitators of me, as I am of Christ" ! *

The reader of the Life of St Catherine will see how
perfectly she could apply all these sayings of St Paul to
herself. They exactly describe her inner life, and this be-
cause she, as well as the apostle, was an eminent Christian
mystic.

BERTRAND WILBERFORCE, O.P.

* I Cor. xi, i.

ERRATA

Page 163, line 12, for "this" read "the "

Page 183, note,>- " Chapter XIX" read " Chapter XII "

ST CATHERINE
r DE' RICCI

CHAPTER I

St Catherine's Family — Birth (1522) — Early Years

I

Ricci family, which gave birth to St Cathe-
rine, belonged to one of the patrician houses of
Florence. Its members came of an ancient race of
bankers and merchants, who had always divided
their lives between the counting-house and the magistracy;
and who — caring as a rule more for the good of their country,
for cultivating the arts, and for enjoying public life, than for
making their fortunes — had helped to form the energetic and
brilliant, if somewhat turbulent, aristocracy of the Republic.
Nearly three hundred years before the saint's birth an
ancestor of hers, Uguccione de' Ricci, is said to have taken a
noted part in one of the great faction-fights of the time,
and to have furiously defended a feudal tower of his
family's, with the help of a mob, against his rivals the
Albizzi.* The fight appears to have had its origin in some
conspiracy formed by Uguccione for the purpose of raising
the Ricci faction to power and humiliating the family they
hated, which resulted in success for the Ricci; and in after
days the latter seem on the whole to have favoured the
Medici rule, though somewhat lukewarmly, not because

* This story of Uguccione de' Ricci is given without any authority named by Guasti in
the Introduction to the "Letters" and copied from him by Pere Bayonne. The present
writer, looking carefully through Napier's detailed history of Florence, and other
Italian chroniclers that he refers to, can find no mention of this particular fight, nor of
any noted one in which a Ricci took part.

2 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

they genuinely approved it but because the Albizzi were
against it, and it brought about their banishment.

The saint's father, Pierfrancesco de' Ricci, son of a
Roberto, was a prominent man in Florence, and much
valued by his fellow-citizens. Both before and under the
Medici he held one important office of state after another,
being in turn Prior, Gonfalonier, " Member of the Six,"
and later Member of the " Council of Two Hundred."
Afterwards he filled posts of local government in both
town and country, dying, as we shall see, a Maritime
Consul ; but all the time remaining head of the family
bank, which he managed with the help of his eldest brother
Federigo, who was his partner. Federigo was of equal
consequence in the city with Pierfrancesco, and a man
of considerable character. On the occasion of the revolt
in 1527 which temporarily deprived the Medici of power,
being made " Prior " for the moment, he chivalrously de-
clined at great cost to himself to use his authority against
the unpopular rulers.

Catherine's mother sprang from an illustrious Italian
family, that of the Ricasoli, of which she was the last re-
presentative and sole heiress.* Her own name was Catherine
de' Panzano, daughter of a Ridolfo, and she married Pier-
francesco de' Ricci in 1514.

Guasti, in his Introduction to the Letters, mentions a
romantic but sad history — connected with a paternal aunt
of St Catherine's, Marietta de' Ricci (a woman so re-
nowned in her day for wickedness that she became the
subject of many fictions) — which makes a strange contrast
to that of her holy niece. In the saint's own generation,
also, the two families of Federigo and Pierfrancesco had
curiously contrasting lots, for poor Federigo had a daughter
named Cassandra who followed in this aunt's footsteps and
was a grief and shame to her family throughout her career.
Neither of these two life-histories, however, appears to have
actually crossed that of the saint, and they are mentioned

* In the South Kensington Museum, amongst a most interesting collection of mediaeval
Italian " marriage coffers," there is one beautifully painted, showing the magnificent wed-
ding procession of a Ricasoli, probably a maternal ancestress of our saint.

AND HER COMMUNITY 3

here only to make a picture of the family and surround-
ings from which she sprang.

The future saint (whose name of Catherine was only
given to her in Religion) appears to have been the eldest *
of her mother's children; she was born on April 23, 1522,
and was baptized next day with the name of Alessandra
Lucrezia Romola. Her birth did not take place in the old
Ricci Palace, on the Corso, possessing the tower associated
with her turbulent ancestor Uguccione, but in a palace
called the Riccardi, which had come later to be owned by
the family, and had very different associations. It was a house
in which another saint had died: St Juliana Falconieri,
foundress of the Mantellate of Florence, and sister to St
Alexis Falconieri, one of the Seven Founders of the Ser-
vite Order. It stood close by their church of the Annun-
ziata, in the Piazza of that name, and was originally called
the Palazzo Griffoni; whilst in later times it has been again
re-named, and is called the Mannelli Palace. Here St Juli-
ana had established, about 1287, the first house of con-
ventual Third Order Servite Sisters; which community she
afterwards joined herself and lived in until her death.

The great characteristic of little Alessandrina — as the
child came to be called in her own family — is said to have
been, even from babyhood, an exceedingly sweet serenity,
which she possessed to a degree felt by her friends and re-
lations to be beyond mere nature, and the account of which
reminds one of the descriptions given of Saint Rose of
Lima in her childhood. It developed into a certain calm
recollectedness of manner, accompanied by little graceful
childlike acts and habits all tending to show a strong in-
clination to piety, which seemed to bear witness to extra-
ordinary divine workings going on within the opening
soul. One of her historians f even says that she forestalled
as a tiny child her devotion for that which was after-
wards to become the great object of her love and the sub-
ject of her ecstasies, by prayers and actions in honour ot

* That is, she is the first named in genealogical tables; but others may have died first,
as she was not born till eight years after her parents' marriage,
•f" Sandrini, lib. I, cap. i.

4 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

our Lord's Passion. " It was a marvellous thing," says her
devoted biographer, "to see so small a child employing her
thoughts on what her tongue could barely stammer forth;
and to find that she showed herself, by transports of love, the
true daughter of Jesus Crucified, even before she possessed
the power of giving public and complete proof of it."

It is also held for certain by some of her biographers
that God employed the visible intervention of a heavenly
messenger in her spiritual formation, during her very
earliest years: — namely, that of her own angel guardian.*
He is believed to have appeared to her even in her cradle;
and to have performed, in the matter of heavenly things,
the office that is ordinarily that of a mother, by awakening
and guiding her infant mind and senses, so that they should
be directed towards prayer, and contemplation of divine
mysteries, from the very beginning.

The little girl grew up beloved of God and man. All
those of her own family who daily witnessed, in her
conduct, the effects of those wonderful graces that were
hidden from their own sight, felt the deepest respect and
admiration for the child whose ways seemed to breathe an
atmosphere which was not that of earth. Her mother, es-
pecially, so long as she lived, felt convinced — though respect
for the handiwork of the Most High kept her silent on
the subject — of the future eminent sanctity of her child.
But this mother, who appears from the little we hear of
her to have been truly worthy of her daughter, was not to
witness on earth that daughter's development. She died
while Alessandrina was still quite a small child ; and when
the latter was between four and five years old, Pierfran-
cesco took to himself the second wife who was destined to
act the part of mother to the future saint. This step-mother
was also a woman of high birth. Her name was Fiammetta
da Diacceto ; and she was daughter to that Francesco da
Diacceto to whom Marsilio Ficino, when dying, recom-
mended Plato's philosophy ; whilst her brother was the
unfortunate Jacopo who was beheaded in the conspiracy
against Giulio de' Medici.

* Compendia delta -vita di B. Caterina, ch. i, p. 3. (See Appendix.)

AND HER COMMUNITY 5

This second marriage of her father's gave Alessandrina
four brothers and five sisters. The eldest brother, Giovan-
batisto, whilst quite young, became a Dominican in the
Convent of San Marco, where he had the name of Fra
Timoteo de' Ricci : — a name which had already been made
honourable in the Order by the virtues of his uncle, a
brother of Pierfrancesco, and to which he added lustre
by his own holiness. The second brother, Francesco, died
at Rome as a youth ; the third, Roberto, took up the
family profession, and eventually founded the flourishing
"Ricci Bank" in Lyons; whilst the youngest, Vincenzio,
remained in Florence, where he was in favour with the
Medici. He attained to the highest magisterial offices, and
had the posthumous glory of being great-grandfather to
the celebrated Bishop Scipio de' Ricci.* Of the five sisters,
one — named Catherine — died as a child, whilst the other
four all became nuns at the monastery of Prato, in turn.

Fiammetta had nothing whatever of the traditional
step-mother about her, but filled the place of a true mother
with the greatest tact and delicacy to her husband's children.
Her character was no less noble than her birth ; and, with
the mental sagacity, upright judgement and warmly gene-
rous heart that belonged to her, she very quickly learned
to value the treasure that she found entrusted to her in the
person of her small step-daughter. As she watched this child
developing before her eyes, in all her modest grace — giv-
ing not the least sign of vanity in speech, in manners, or
in dress — showing not the smallest inclination to egotism
or self-will — always humble, gentle, and quick to fulfil
everything required of her — Fiammetta was enchanted.
Her affection for the little girl soon reached the point of
actual respect ; and she took to treating her with the kind
of veneration that one shows to holy things and to souls
consecrated to God. It is refreshing to read for once of an
eminent virgin saint treated by her elders, in her youth,
with delicate consideration, instead of with that strange
want of sympathy (to give it a mild name) which one so

* Bishop of Pistoja and Prato in the i8th century. He got into trouble for heretical
doctrine, but was reconciled before he died.

6 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

often finds shown to their daughters by mothers of saintly
children.

But all this was only a first revelation to the noble-
hearted step-mother, who was to receive in time many
more, as to the respect and honour due to her young
charge. Alessandrina's humility made her so ingenious in
hiding her own merits, that she lived for a long time
under the close observation of her second mother before
the latter found out anything about her secret mortifica-
tions. At last, thinking once that she had not seen her take
any food for a whole day, Fiammetta determined to watch
her step-child in this matter more closely than she had
hitherto done ; and the result was the discovery that it was
not only her habit to keep prolonged fasts, but to keep
them in a perfectly calm and natural manner which be-
trayed a most uncommon strength of soul— or rather, as
the writer of an anonymous life of the saint remarks,
"which proved that the love of God bestowed on her, as
compensation for her courage, a superabundance of spiri-
tual food." The sight of such Christian fortitude in a little
girl of about seven years old not only touched Fiammetta's
heart with greater tenderness than ever for the child, but
made her feel strongly convinced that a sanctity built on
such a deep and solid foundation as this must be destined
by God to reach very great proportions. Accordingly, she
set herself to study the mind and soul of Alessandrina
more and more carefully, and was rewarded by the con-
stant discovery of fresh treasures of purity and holiness
hidden therein. It is said that her admiration of the child's
virtue, and conviction of her future greatness, became so
overpowering that she could not keep silence about them,
but frequently spoke to others in an almost prophetic tone
of her step-daughter's future destiny ; and at last declared
that " instead of being herself appointed to act the part of
mother to this child, it was the child who had become her
teacher and mistress in virtue : — her refuge and comfort in
the griefs and troubles of life."*

* Sandrini, lib. I, cap. i, p. 3.

AND HER COMMUNITY

CHAPTER II

Alessandrina's Vocation — Her stay at Monticelli — Return to her father's
house — Search for a Convent after her own heart

THE precocious development of Alessandrina's soul in a par-
ticular direction seemed a clear indication of the line that
her spirituality was destined to take. Her strong bent to-
wards the interior life, her love of solitary communing with
God, and the pain and embarrassment that she always felt
in company — betrayed at times by a kind of gentle melan-
choly in her conversation — all pointed to her having no
vocation for the labours and excitements of an active career.
She was clearly called to retreat and contemplative prayer
in the shelter of the cloister.

Given up to divine love, and instructed, as we have
seen, by the Holy Spirit, she began before long to find
even the sanctuary of her father's house, where from her
cradle upwards she had received so much light and guid-
ance, insufficient for her need of retirement. Very early she
sighed for " the wings of a dove, that she might fly away
and be at rest " in the solitude and enclosure of a monas-
tery ; and she planned her desired flight with a calmness
and deliberation suited to her character. She knew very
well that, child as she was, she could no more expect to be
received in any community as a Religious at her age than
St Catherine of Siena or St Teresa could have gained their
parents' consent for carrying out their enthusiastic childish
dreams of going forth to a hermitage or a desert. But con-
vents in Florence opened their doors to others than nuns,
since most of them served as the ordinary places of educa-
tion for girls. So Alessandrina began importuning her father
to let her enter a cloister in the capacity of a pupil, with-
out betraying her further private desires. Her father, how-
ever, was in no hurry to part with a child who was such
a treasure at home, so it took her some time to get her own

8 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

way ; and she only did so at last by the help of her "second
mother," whom she persuaded to take her part and to over-
come her father's resistance.* Fiammetta was helped in this
task by the unexpected intervention of Alessandrina's aunt,
Lodovica de' Ricci, Pierfrancesco's sister, who was abbess of
a Benedictine monastery called San Pietro de' Monticelli.
Alessandrina was sometimes taken when her parents went
to visit this aunt at her convent, and Lodovica, conceiving
a great desire to have the little girl in her keeping, begged
her brother to entrust his daughter to her care for a time.
Finding his sister's suggestion coincide so exactly with his
child's earnest wishes, and reflecting also that Alessandrina
would gain great advantages from the fashionable educa-
tion given to girls of high rank in this convent, Pierfran-
cesco agreed, and sent her there.

San Pietro de' Monticelli was one of the oldest and
most respected Benedictine houses in Florence. Though
not free from the then almost universal taint of monastic
relaxation, it was nevertheless in certain respects regular
and devout ; and amongst other venerable pious traditions,
it specially cherished a devotion to the mysteries of our
Lord's Passion. This devotion, as we shall see, besides
winning Alessandrina's heart during her stay at Monti-
celli, became the means of betraying the advanced degree
of sanctity that she had already reached.

In the convent church, facing the nuns' choir, there
was a large picture, which represented our Lord on the
Cross with such splendour and reality that it deeply moved
the souls of all who looked upon it, and hence had be-
come an object of most tender and earnest devotion. From
the moment of Alessandrina's first introduction to this
painting, it took such a passionate hold of her that she
seemed to make her home at its feet : she could withdraw
neither her eyes nor her heart from it. On her knees, with
her gaze fixed on that adored face so filled with grief, each
act of the bleeding drama of the Redemption appeared to
her reflected thereon. So deep was the impression made
upon her that its effect was wont to last long after she had

* Vita Anonima, cap. i, p. 4.

AND HER COMMUNITY 9

come away from the picture ; and she would speak of it
with all the vividness and tender feeling of one who had
been witness of an actual scene that she had just left. In
vain did they try to induce her, as a relief from such
thoughts, to spend part of her recreation in the games and
other amusements of her school companions. Out of pure
docility and obligingness she would smilingly join for a
time in what pleased others, though it gave no pleasure to
her ; but she always took the first opportunity of slipping
away to return where her heart called her, and to take up
her place again at the foot of her "crucifix" — as the pic-
ture is called by her biographers, though a painting. She
used to hide herself beneath a curtain that hung over the
choir grille, so as to be alone, and unseen by all but Him
on whose image she was gazing ; and, when sometimes
found there after some hours' absence, it was generally
with her face bathed in tears.

Her aunt, the abbess, finding her so devoted to the
crucifix, carefully taught her a certain pious practice that
was in use amongst the most fervent sisters of the con-
vent. This consisted in saying the Lord's Prayer five times,
meditating with each Pater on one of the chief mysteries
of the Passion — namely, on the Agony of Jesus and His
seizing in the Garden of Gethsemane, His Scourging,
His Crowning with thorns, His carrying of the Cross,
and His Crucifixion and Entombment. The learning of
this devotion was a great boon to our young saint ; and
her practice of it soon became accompanied by a wonderful
and moving phenomenon. Whilst engaged in the exercise,
she so completely identified herself with the sufferings of
Jesus Christ as to become a living representation of them.
During the prayer for the first mystery, she was seen, to
begin with, on her knees — her hands raised to heaven, and
her face pale and agonized ; and afterwards with her arms
held tightly to her breast, in a grave and dignified manner,
as representing Christ bound in Gethsemane. At the second
mystery she stood upright and immovable, her right hand
clasping her shoulder, in imitation of Jesus fastened to the
pillar of the flagellation — and so with the rest ; always

io ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

suiting her movements to the scenes of our divine Re-
deemer's sufferings.*

The sight of the little girl thus vividly realizing by the
sheer force of loving sympathy the sacrifice of the divine
Victim, was overpoweringly touching to all who happened
to behold it ; and tradition says that our Lord Himself
sometimes worked a wonder in testimony of His own
tenderness for His child-imitator, by making the crucifix
appear to live on the canvas and to speak words of loving
acknowledgement in return for her devotion. The con-
sequence of these supernatural incidents — forerunners of
yet greater marvels to come later in the saint's life — was
that this picture became renowned, first throughout the
community and afterwards beyond it, as Sandrinas Crucifix ;
and that it was eventually hung in a more public place for
the people's veneration : finally being taken to the " chapel
of St Antoninus " (Archbishop of Florence in the preced-
ing century, and a Dominican), where it still remains for
the homage of the faithful.

All these favours received, and special tendencies of
devotion gratified, in the Monticelli Convent, would
naturally point to Alessandrina's finding her ultimate
vocation there : yet it did not turn out so ; and the
girl's decision — in spite of natural and supernatural at-
tractions to it and of great affection shown her by its
inhabitants — not to become a member of this community,
is one of the most striking instances given in her bio-
graphies of both the precocity of her judgement and the
clearness and strength of her early supernatural inspira-
tions. She appears to have been specially called, not only
to become herself a perfect model of the Religious life,
but to be, even in her earliest youth, an instrument in
the hands of God for warning and putting to shame those
who lived in a manner not fully corresponding to their
high vocation. The monastic spirit just at this period was
at a very low ebb : so much so, that a community which
kept up some vestiges of regular observance, and added
to them a few pious practices, was counted by many very

* Vita, etc., da Serafino Razzi, lib. II, cap. i.

AND HER COMMUNITY n

virtuous people to be setting an example of true evangeli-
cal perfection. Nothing could have been more calculated to
keep down the standard of Religious life than this high
esteem in which such convents were held by the world,
and the consequent fact that they attracted many subjects.
It was, therefore, both a much-needed and a fully-deserved
chastisement and humiliation for one of these decayed
institutions to be rejected by the wisdom and disdain of
a mere child ; and this was what happened to the Monas-
tery of Monticelli. Alessandriha, whilst adopting, as we
have seen, whatever devout practices she found there, ap-
pears to have entered her aunt's convent with an ideal
already formed of what Religious life should be, which
was very far from finding its fulfilment in the Benedictine
nuns whom she had now to obey as her teachers and su-
periors. Instead of such virtues as she had dreamt of for
the inhabitants of a cloister, and the spouses of a crucified
Lord — in place of utter abnegation, of disinterested
charity, of a spirit of humility and mortification — she
saw around her only lukewarm virtues, accompanied by
glaring imperfections and acts of narrow-minded selfish-
ness— such as disputes amongst Religious over trifles, a
love of possession that sought for gratification in trivial
objects, and a generally worldly spirit which plainly showed
how the evangelical standard had degenerated in the com-
munity. Such a state of things was enough to make her
decide upon never choosing this monastery for her conse-
cration to God ; but, having taken this resolution, she
tried in every possible way to lessen the pain that she
knew her decision must give to her aunt and the other
nuns. Whilst unable to help condemning the spirit of the
community, she was full of tenderness for its individual
members, feeling that they were not fully responsible for
a situation which they had not themselves brought about,
and which some of them were perhaps hardly conscious of.
Moreover, besides the respect she felt for the personal vir-
tues of many amongst them, Alessandrina had too noble
and loving a heart not to feel greatly touched by, and very
grateful for, the tender care and real devotion that had

12 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

been shown to her in the convent, and the earnest desire
and hope which she knew the nuns had felt that she might
take their habit and remain under their roof. All these
motives, as well as a naturally sympathetic character which
made her feel other people's griefs keenly, caused her to
wish very much that she might have spared them the
trouble of her departure, which — she instinctively knew —
would be felt by them as a humiliation to the monastery,
and perhaps even as an unfair action on her part. The only
plan she could think of, when she found herself obliged to
give some account of her intentions, was to shelter herself,
so to speak, behind the authority of God who had made
known His special will in the matter to her ; and Sandrini
tells us that, without directly mentioning their community,
she managed delicately to explain " that God had put it
into her heart to enter a house where strictly primitive
observance was kept, and where she would be sure of rind-
ing perfect peace in the practice of most exact poverty " ;
and that, having done this, she redoubled the tenderness
and trustfulness of her ways with the nuns, to show them
that there was absolutely nothing personal in her resolution.

However, before she had to leave the monastery, an
occurrence took place which brought her true feelings
much more plainly to light, though still indirectly, and
in a way that could only edify her friends. The story of
this incident in the saint's early life is specially interesting,
apart from its connection with her, as an illustration of one
particular form taken by conventual decadence in her day.

An old nun at Monticelli died ; and in her cell was
found a book of devotion adorned with rich illuminations,
and with those graceful little paintings introduced by me-
diaeval art, which — perfected during the Renaissance — had
developed into chef-d' ceuvres of good taste as well as of
piety. Books of this kind — perfectly legitimate objects of
satisfaction to pious people in the world — had become, in
the universal lowering of the true Religious spirit, a veri-
table snare and source of abuses in monasteries of women.
That ardent and enlightened promoter of Religious reform
at the end of the fifteenth century — Girolamo Savonarola —

AND HER COMMUNITY 13

had severely stigmatized this abuse amongst others, not
only in his own Convent of San Marco in Florence, but
in numerous other houses of both men and women of
various Orders.

He denounced it as an encroachment on the true spirit
of poverty, and a cause of vain and curious research, intro-
ducing a secular and worldly spirit amongst the spouses
of Jesus Christ. The Annee Dominicaine (vol. 1861-2,
p. 607) gives the following Verbatim extract from a letter
of Savonarola's to the Countess of Mirandola, which both
details the kind of abuses in vogue, and expresses in
vigorous terms his strong feeling on the subject. "In
leaving the world," he says, speaking of Religious, "they
have made great sacrifices ; then, when they have hardly
entered the state of Religion, they begin attaching them-
selves to all sorts of trivialities — to a cell, to a new gar-
ment, to a fine breviary, to a pair of scissors or a knife,
and so forth. All this is an obstacle to purity of heart ;
it causes inward disturbance; and they live in the cloister
like barren trees in a garden. Wretched weakness of hu-
man nature ! They have given up gold and silver, and now
they cling to sand and mud." Then, going on to personal
direction, he exhorts her to such heroic perfection as
this : " In the world, your dress and adornments put
those of your attendants into the shade, therefore in the
cloister you should wear the very poorest habit; for, in
the warfare of Jesus Christ, you ought to surpass those
whom you would have tried to surpass in the warfare of
the world. You must, then, have neither fine, nor constantly-
renewed^ clothes, nor books richly illuminated, nor a magnificent
breviary, nor any objects of ^oalue. Have a simple breviary,
with no gilding, without silk ribbons, without illumina-
tions, and with a marker of leather or thread."

One of the books thus referred to, then, was that left
in her cell by the old nun in question ; and it immediately
became an object of desire to two young Religious, who
both equally wanted it as a piece of personal property, and
between whom it gave rise to stormy disputes followed by
bitter resentment. Alessandrina could not see such a state

i4 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

of things without a feeling of keen sorrow ; and (as San-
drini tells the story) she " went apart, and thus breathed
forth her complaints to God — 'Is it possible that the
spouse of Christ, who is all gentleness and humility,
should give entrance in this way to anger and bitterness ?
Oh, good Jesus, where is poverty of spirit, death of self,
separation from all creatures, to be found? Thou hadst
neither home nor shelter in life, and in death Thou wast
so poor that a borrowed shroud was thy grave-cloth. And
now here are holy virgins, consecrated to Thee — the well-
beloved of Thy Heart — quarrelling with each other over
a few sheets of paper ! What folly, for the sake of a worth-
less little book, to risk the danger of having one's name
struck out of the Book of Life for ever ! ' " *

As Alessandrina, pacing the cloister, was thus grieving
— and weeping the while — she was discovered by the nun
who was mistress of the school, and who both comforted
the child and gradually drew from her the cause of her
grief. She seems to have been most tender and kind over
the matter, in spite of the plainness with which her-little
pupil spoke of the shock she had received from the quarrel
she had witnessed, and of her determination to go where
true charity and poverty of spirit would make such things
impossible. Her mistress's tenderness, however, in nowise
shook the young saint's firmness, though she again tried
to smooth matters over as far as possible by attributing
her resolution to a call from God which she could not
resist ; and when her aunt, having heard from the mistress
what had happened, sent for her, she gave her reasons for
having finally decided to leave Monticelli with the greatest
modesty and respect, but still with unmoved resolution ;
so that the abbess could no longer hesitate to believe that
a special inspiration of the Holy Ghost was dictating to
her niece what she must do. Lodovica then acted with
real generosity: she humbly adored almighty God's de-
signs on this child ; made up her mind to the sacrifice of
resigning all hopes about keeping her in the community ;
and let her sister-in-law, Fiammetta, know what Alessan-

* Sandrini, lib. II, cap. ii, p. 7.

AND HER COMMUNITY 15

drina's intentions were, that she might come and fetch her
away from the abbey. The little girl parted from the nuns
who had been so good to her, and whom she loved most
sincerely, with genuine grief, and with the frank declara-
tion that nothing but what she knew to be the will of
God could have separated her from them. This declara-
tion was corroborated by her attitude towards the nuns of
Monticelli through the whole of her life. She never her-
self betrayed any of the serious reasons that had caused
her departure, and never spoke of any things or persons
belonging to the convent except in terms of affection and
reverence.

When she got home again, Alessandrina at once took
up the position of an intending candidate for the Religious
life : not so much in words as by her whole behaviour.
She managed to arrange her time so as to live as nearly as
possible by conventual hours, making her own room into
an oratory, and spending her days and the best part of her
nights there, in quiet and prayer. Her father, delighted to
have her back, humoured his child's tastes for solitude and
monastic ways, never thinking of having to give his con-
sent to anything definite. In fact, so far was he from tak-
ing the matter seriously that he looked forward, when the
right time should come, to finding some suitable husband
for her amongst the good Florentine families, so as to keep
her always near him. He is said to have been specially de-
voted to this child, not only because of her great personal
charms, but because of her being the only daughter left to
him by his first wife, and very like her.

This strict and hermit-like way of life appears in no
wise to have affected the relations of Alessandrina with the
family and household, which remained as pleasant and
affectionate as they had been before she left home for
Monticelli. She was as much and as genuinely interested
in other people's concerns as ever ; took the greatest care
to arrange her times of devotion, so as to interfere
with no domestic arrangements ; was so delightful with
her young brothers that they would fain have had her
always with them ; and, in short, acted not merely with

1 6 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

perfect unselfishness, but with a degree of tact and pru-
dence in her whole intercourse with others that astonishes
one to read of in a girl of her still quite tender years.
For her father she seems to have had as great an affection
as he had for her ; and a quaint story is told of one means
that she took of showing it during this time. Pierfrancesco
at last began rather to take fright at his little daughter's
persistence in her exactly religious and retired life, and
thought that perhaps he could cure her of such ways by
depriving her of the means of solitude. Accordingly, on
the excuse of having her nearer to him, he made her give
up the room that had been appropriated to her use in
a distant and quiet part of the Ricci palace, and had one
arranged for her next to his own, in the most bustling
and fully occupied part. Alessandrina made not the
slightest complaint or fuss at the change, but went calmly
on her usual way as far as her own practices were
concerned ; only she made use of the close neighbourhood
to her father to see what she could do to show her love
for him. She soon discovered what he probably did so
quietly that his children had hitherto known nothing of it:
that public and private business compelled the statesman
and householder to get up extremely early, about 3 o'clock
in the morning. As soon as she found this out, Alessan-
drina at once adopted the habit of rising herself at this
hour, slipping quietly into her father's room, and — first
kneeling for his blessing — putting all his things ready for
him, and waiting upon him, in every way that a child
could, as if she had been his servant, until he dismissed
her with a second blessing. Then she would go back to
her own room, and spend the rest of the early morning
hours in prayer, entreating her Father in heaven, with
ever-increasing earnestness, to help her in the fulfilment of
her vocation and to show her the convent destined for her.
Besides praying about it, however, she took all human
means within her reach for rinding the right place ; and in
this search she got her ever-devoted "second mother" to
help her. Fiammetta managed to get introductions to all
the chief convents in Florence, and took her step-daughter

AND HER COMMUNITY 17

with her to visit them, the latter constantly hoping to find
the evangelical perfection that she sighed for fully practised
in some of them. But the search proved vain : ruins and
shadows of the past were all she found. The spirit of the
world had taken complete possession of those devoted by
profession to the highest life, and had dragged them down
in proportion to the height of their calling. In some cases
Alessandrina, indeed, came across a state of things by com-
parison of which the monastery of Monticelli must have
seemed a model community. Certain nuns of that time,
Sandrini tells us — belonging to Orders whose rule and consti-
tutions placed them behind grilles in strict enclosure, there
to lead hidden lives of prayer — had persuaded themselves
that they could best sanctify themselves by sanctifying
others, in a manner little dreamt of indeed by their
founders! This means consisted in giving "pious re-
presentations" of the Gospel History, or of the "acts" of
saints and martyrs — in other words, by turning themselves
into a troupe of pious actresses, who performed mystery or
miracle plays within the convent walls, and invited all their
secular friends to come and see them. Alessandrina, with her
step-mother, was one day bidden to such a festivity, at a
monastery in high renown with the Florentines — of what
Order we are not told. She went, of course, expecting to
see something of a religious and edifying description such
as nuns might harmlessly represent, having heard no
details of such performances, but only a talk of "pious
spectacles." The astonishment and grief of a girl with such
ideals as she had we may imagine, when we find that in
the performance she witnessed the nuns had discarded their
habits and dressed up in secular men's and women's clothes,
of great splendour; whilst they played their parts so truly
to the life as to be little in harmony with Religious mo-
desty. It is not to be wondered at that the holy young
visitor was seized with a sudden pain and sorrow at the
sight, so sharp that she could not quite restrain herself,
but gave vent to her trouble in only half-suppressed sounds
of grief and aversion.

The shock she received on this occasion, however, was

1 8 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

the cause both of a great spiritual consolation, and of her
receiving for the first time a supernatural gift which was
often granted to her in after life — that of being able to
read the souls of others. As she was grieving inwardly
over the spectacle that had so startled her as being a dis-
grace to the Religious state, and also over the sad con-
dition of those who were dragged back to the world and
its dangers by taking part in such a display, our Lord
Himself vouchsafed to make known to her by some in-
ward vision that He was grieving with her; and at the
same time He showed her the state of certain among the
souls of the Religious who were performing the play. By
this revelation, Alessandrina was made to understand that
Jesus Christ meant to encourage her in the endeavour to
restore the honour of His spouses in the Church.

After this memorable scene, she tried harder than ever
to find a convent in Florence where she could take final
refuge from the world, but still without success. She had
to go further afield for what she wanted.

AND HER COMMUNITY 19

CHAPTER III

Alessandrina's stay at the Villa San Paolo near Prato — She becomes
acquainted with San Vincenzio's Monastery by means of two beg-
ging sisters — Gets her father's consent to a few days' visit there —
Her compulsory return to Florence — Where she falls ill — Her
miraculous cure — Her final entry into San Vincenzio's

SOME hours' walk from Florence, towards the north, lies
one of the most beautiful spots in Tuscany. It consists of
a vast plain, reaching from the banks of the Arno, which
here bathes the foot of Fiesole's mountains, to the hills of
Pistoja, where the Ombrone takes its rise. The fertile soil,
the genial air, the clear sky, the beautiful and varied
scenery — all combine to make this plain one of the plea-
santest abodes in the world. Nearly in the centre of it,
on the river Bizencio, stands the little town of Prato — so
named from the beautiful meadow which forms its site.
In and around this place the rich families of Florence vied
with one another in acquiring land and building villas, so
attractive was the country ; and the Ricci family had, from
time immemorial, possessed a fine estate there, which went
by the name of San Paolo's Farm. At the time we are speak-
ing of, Pierfrancesco went to stay at Prato with his whole
family, when (as was usual, on account of his well-known
charity) all the poor of the neighbourhood soon took to
making their appearance at the house. One day, amongst
these, there appeared two humble Religious women, lead-
ing a donkey to carry the gifts in kind which were the
usual alms they received. AJessandrina, having seen them
at a distance, ran eagerly to meet them ; and, enchanted
with a modest, gentle and devoutly recollected manner in
them, which she had not before come across in any Reli-
gious, she begged her father to let them stay at San Paolo's
for a few days, to which he gladly agreed.

She found that they were two lay-sisters from San

20 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

Vincenzio — a convent, recently founded at Prato in the
spirit of true monastic traditions, where the constantly
increasing fervour practised by its inhabitants was most
helpful and edifying to souls. The young saint, we are
told, acting still with a prudence that one marvels at in
one so young, observed the sisters most carefully and
continuously whilst they were in her father's villa, to
make sure that their daily conduct carried out the first im-
pression they had given her. Finding all that she saw of
their private life — the simplicity of their manners, their
silence, recollection, fervour in prayer, and general religi-
ous deportment — such as to make her deeply respect them,
she went further, and began to talk to them freely, open-
ing out all her own ideals of the monastic state, and ask-
ing them innumerable questions about their own rule and
community. She spoke to them, moreover, of her cherished
devotions to the Passion of our Lord, the Blessed Virgin,
and the Holy Eucharist, and expressed her longing for
frequent communion, that she might find out their feel-
ings. In short, she put these two lay-sisters, in her girlishly
earnest way, through as close and careful an examination
as if she had been a judge questioning witnesses. Little did
the humble sisters guess, as they answered her many in-
quiries about their way of life, that on their answers was to
depend the destiny of a saint and the future renown of
their monastery !

The result of their replies was so to rejoice Alessan-
drina's heart, causing her to feel sure that here at last she
had discovered the full realization of the perfect ideal of Re-
ligious life, as to make her (according to Sandrini) cry out
one day in irrepressible thankfulness : " God be praised !
here is the place He has prepared for me ; here is the place
where I shall fight to the end ; here shall I find the altar
of my sacrifice ! It is at San Vincenzio's that I am to offer
myself as a holocaust to my beloved Redeemer!"

The girl's mind being once made up upon this point,
her own idea was to act at once on her new-found convic-
tion, and to return with the lay-sisters to their convent in.
Prato. She knew, of course, that there might be some

AND HER COMMUNITY 21

difficulty in getting her father's consent to this course,
and, before actually asking his leave to go, spoke enthusi-
astically to her brothers, her step-mother, and all other
members of the household, about her delight in all she
had heard of San Vincenzio's, and her certainty that God
called her to consecrate her life to Him in that monastery.
She hoped that hearing first of her wish indirectly might
soften the matter somewhat to Pierfrancesco, and incline
him to be lenient. Her innocent diplomacy, however,
failed ; for when at last she made up her mind to speak
directly to him, and went to throw herself at his feet with
her request that she might accompany the sisters, she
found him immovable. He had made up his mind be-
forehand, and, for sole answer to her petition, formally
declared that he would listen to no more proposals of the
kind, and forbade his daughter ever again to open her lips
on the subject. The pqpr child was completely crushed by
this inexorable declaration ; and, as might be expected, its
final result was the hasty departure of the sisters from
San Paolo. Left alone, Alessandrina could only rest all
her hopes on God Himself, and on the fervent prayers
that she knew they would offer at the convent.

Naturally, the first thing that the two lay-sisters did on
getting home was to give an account of the treasure which
they thought Providence had in store for them in the Ricci
family. The nuns — full of fervour, and more interested in
the prospect of so holy a postulant than in the question of
what supplies their " begging sisters " might have brought
them — bestirred themselves at once to see what they could
do to promote the forwarding of Alessandrina's projects.
Strangely enough, the spiritual director of their community
for the time being was own brother to Pierfrancesco : —
Fra Timoteo de' Ricci, a friar from the celebrated Domini-
can Monastery of San Marco in Florence, and a man highly
commendable for his own virtues. To him the community
naturally turned for help in this matter concerning his
niece ; but he was at first by no means very much inclined
to move in it, out of consideration for his brother, whose
intense affection for Alessandrina he well knew. However,

22 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

having paid some visits himself to the Villa San Paolo, he
found out by personal intercourse with her what were the
real feelings, and the truly wonderful dispositions, of the
child ; and this discovery seems to have given him scruples
about keeping silence, lest he should be really opposing the
will of God if he did not do his best to plead his niece's
health with her father. He began pleading it, accordingly,
with warmth ; but his interference was not well received,
and his brother ended by desiring " that he would cease
meddling with his family affairs," and intimating that his
visits were no longer welcome. Thus rebuffed, Fra Timoteo
could only tell his spiritual daughters that they were not
likely at present to overcome the objections of a father
whose affections were so intensely set on his child, and
that much time and unusual grace would be needed to
bring about the desired end. The nuns, unwilling to be so
easily defeated, bethought themselves of another ambassador
in the person of their prioress, who appears to have been
a woman equally distinguished by birth, virtues, and un-
usually charming and courtly manners, Margherita di
Bardo by name. This lady they sent, as a delegate from
the community, to call on Pierfrancesco at his villa, and
to beg that he would grant them at least the pleasure of a
visit from his beloved Alessandrina. There was nothing, it
should be stated, inconsistent with their Religious spirit
in this expedition of the prioress ; for, though living in
enclosure, the community, having only the Third Order
Rule, were at this time at liberty to go outside the con-
vent when necessary. Sister Margherita was received at
San Paolo with all the honour and attention due to her ;
and when her host heard this dignified and gracious dame
begging, as a personal favour, for the desired permission,
he could not, if only out of mere courtesy to the prioress,
well refuse it ; besides which, there was the possibility that
the result of a visit to San Vincenzio might be at least the
postponement of the dreaded misfortune. He granted leave,
therefore, with a good grace ; but made it an express condi-
tion that his daughter's stay in the convent should not ex-
ceed ten days. She took this unhoped-for permission as a

AND HER COMMUNITY 23

sign that Providence was about to grant the fulfilment of
all her projects and, thanking God earnestly, went off re-
joicing with the prioress.

According to the custom of the house, Alessandrina,
on arriving, was received by the whole community as-
sembled in choir, where all the nuns in turn gave her the
kiss of peace. A story is told that as the little visitor
crossed the threshold of the holy place, a nun who had
for some time been suffering from an infirmity that affected
her mind by weakening it, was suddenly aroused, filled
with the spirit of God, and cried aloud : " Here comes
our little superior ! Here is the little mistress of our souls,
and spiritual guide ! " These words, coming from so un-
expected a quarter, are said to have struck all present as
uttered with prophetic inspiration ; and as a matter of fact
they did turn out to contain a true prophecy; for their
young subject lived to become a teacher, an eminent guide
to souls in the spiritual path, and an accomplished model
of all monastic virtues, not to that convent only, but to
many others, throughout Tuscany and all Italy.

However, there were to be hindrances yet to the ful-
filment of her longings. She soon found herself so per-
fectly happy amongst the sisters of San Vincenzio, where
her ideal of contemplation and Religious life seemed ful-
filled in such a way as to satisfy all her aspirations, that
she felt like a wanderer come home at last ; and when, at
the end of the appointed ten days, one of her brothers was
sent to fetch her back, she found herself — as might have
been expected — utterly unable to leave a place of which
she already appeared to have become a part. To tear her-
self away from the community, at least with her own good-
will, had become practically an impossibility ; and she told
her brother that she could not return to family life, for she
belonged henceforth to this cloister, where she felt sure
that God Himself had led her. She entreated him to get
her father's forgiveness if she disobeyed him on this one
point, which concerned God's own choice for her. The
brother reluctantly went home, and executed her commis-
sion ; but Pierfrancesco was not to be so easily softened

24 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

He appears to have looked at the whole thing as a plot
against him, and came in person to the convent, furiously
angry and determined to enforce obedience to his orders,
even by violent measures if necessary. But if the father
was determined on his side, the daughter was equally so
on hers, though in a calmer way ; and, in the end, her
gently obstinate resolve to keep to her decision of remain-
ing at San Vincenzio, together with the spiritual reasons
she put forward — child as she was — to support it, had
their effect. Her father gave in to her, at least for the time
being. He renounced all idea of carrying her home by
force, and professed himself convinced by her argu-
ments— only, he said, before being shut up for good
in the cloister, she must just come back home with him
for a few days, to see and bid farewell to the rest of the
family. At first Alessandrina refused even this, but here
she found her uncle Timoteo, the prioress, and all the
community, against her ; so, most unwillingly, she had to
yield, and returned — though in tears — to San Paolo, hav-
ing first made her father solemnly promise that he would
not keep her there for more than ten days. This solemn
promise, however, Pierfrancesco evidently did not con-
sider binding. He appears to have had some idea that,
seeing how very young she still was, her vocation might
possibly after all be only a fancied one, and that he was
justified in doing all he could to turn her away from the
thought before finally giving her up. Accordingly, he first
took the whole family back from the neighbourhood of
Prato, to their palace in Florence, where Alessandrina
found herself surrounded by numerous relations and
friends who petted and made much of her, and in the
midst of various diversions and changes of scene which it
was hoped might drive San Vincenzio out of her head.
Then, when she entreated him to keep his word and let
her go back, he made one pretext after another — mostly
founded on his own unconquerable grief at the thought
of losing her — for delay. He treated her with the greatest
possible love and tenderness, never professing an inten-
tion of breaking his word eventually, nor uttering a sylla-

AND HER COMMUNITY 25

ble ot reproach or anger again, but simply " putting
off" time after time.

This went on for so long (though exactly how long
we are not told) that at last the state of things became too
much for the poor child, who had at first struggled
bravely against the disappointment and had kept up her
usual brightness with all around her. She fell, first, into
a state of most unnatural melancholy, and then into one
of such bad health that all her friends were terribly
frightened, and believed that she was dying of con-
sumption. Everybody belonging to her, except the one
person chiefly concerned, who was the actual cause of
it, knew that the illness was nothing but a kind of
nostalgia — a longing, like that of the exile who craves
for his country, for the home of her soul, from which
she was being kept by too strong a human love. Yet the
father who was thus forcibly detaining his beloved daugh-
ter remained for some time — perhaps wilfully — blind to
the cause of her illness.

Alessandrina herself, however, even though almost
feeling on the point of death, and knowing that others
thought her so, never in her heart quite despaired of re-
covery. She believed that our Lord would somehow give
back her life and strength, on purpose for her to conse-
crate them to Him ; and, whilst lying sometimes in what
appeared to be states of utter collapse, she was inwardly
pleading with her divine Spouse to hear and grant her
desires. Her faith was rewarded by the granting of this
prayer. She was miraculously cured ; and the following is
the account given of her cure :

She was lying in a deep lethargy : — bodily helpless,
but with her soul active and alive, and earnestly praying,
when she suddenly beheld a radiant vision. Jesus Christ
Himself appeared to stand at her side, holding a ring of
dazzling beauty ; and with Him appeared His Mother, and
the two glorious martyrs Thekla and Cecilia, who were
her special patrons. Looking at her with unspeakable kind-
ness, our Lord asked the sick girl why she was making
herself so excessively miserable about entering the religious

26

state, since He Himself had undertaken to see that she
succeeded in doing so ? Alessandrina answered, with deep
humility: "My dear Redeemer, who canst see to the
bottom of my heart, Thou knowest well that what grieves
me so is this putting off of my happiness in being con-
secrated to Thee, for I know not how long ! " Then our
Saviour said, " It is to hasten this moment that I have
come to cure you," and blessed her ; whereupon she was
at once healed of her sickness. After this, He gave her
many predictions as to her future. He warned her that
she must look for many sufferings in the Religious life —
for contradictions and all sorts of trials. He told her that
she would be visited with cruel bodily infirmities, and
with grief and anguish of soul, both because of distrust
or persecutions from man, and through attacks from, and
pitfalls set by, the devil ; and that all the extraordinary
favours — visions ecstasies, whatever they might be —
granted to her from on high, would bring about the worst
troubles and the bitterest moments of her life. But He
further encouraged her not to lose heart, promising that
He would ever be with her, and that with His help she
should triumph over every obstacle, to the great profit of
her own soul and the honour of God. Then, smiling with
marvellous graciousness upon her, and pointing to the
brilliant ring in His hand, our Lord concluded by saying:
" Here is the ring of those sacred espousals that I shall
soon celebrate with you, that you may be My well-beloved
bride." Thereupon the Blessed Virgin, and the two holy
martyrs who were with her, approached the maiden and
spoke encouraging words to her ; after which the vision
disappeared, leaving her in full health and filled with un-
utterable joy.*

The first thing Alessandrina did after this wonderful
event was to hasten to her father and, throwing herself
into his arms, tell him how it had all happened. He was
deeply moved, not only at having his child thus miracu-
lously restored, but by this proof that Christ Himself was
on her side in the matter of her sacred call: for Pier-

* Vita Anonima, cap. iv, p. 17.

AND HER COMMUNITY 27

Francesco was too religious a man not to know what a Re-
ligious vocation meant, or to imagine that this supernatural
visitation could have been sent for no purpose beyond that
of restoring his daughter to him. He was frightened at this
sudden conviction, which pierced him, that he had been
opposing God by his delay in keeping his promise ; and
still more did he feel penitent and ashamed over his con-
duct when he found nearly every member of the family,
including his elder brother Federigo de' Ricci — who ap-
pears just now to have paid him a visit on purpose to give
his opinion on the matter — strongly urging him to grant
the request which Alessandrina now put forth afresh, and
to let her go at once to San Vincenzio permanently. The
poor man seems, indeed, to have suffered quite a verbal
castigation from his relations, who all freely poured forth
their views as to the selfishness, injustice, cruelty, and ir-
religiousness of his recent behaviour ; and one cannot help
admiring the meekness with which he appears to have
taken it all, as well as the sincere repentance that he
showed. Having once seen himself in the wrong he was
clearly determined to acknowledge it publicly. Not satisfied
with giving his beloved child immediate leave to go, he
first (according to Sandrini) begged her pardon, with tears,
for all the pain he had given her, promising at the same
time that he would henceforth be to her " a father, not
according to mere flesh and blood, but according to the
grace and spirit of God"; and then he took her back him-
self to Prato, that he might with his own hands both restore
her to the monastery whence he had taken her, and offer her
as a holocaust to God.

Thus, at last, and after it had seemed almost hopeless,
did Alessandrina Lucrezia Romola de' Ricci have her
desires granted : thus did she finally cross the threshold
of her future home on earth, conducted by the father who
for a time had been the one great obstacle in her way, and
who now voluntarily presented her himself to those who
were to be henceforth her mother and sisters.

28 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

CHAPTER IV

Alessandrina receives the habit (1535), and with it the name of Catherine —
Her novitiate — Her trials in it — Her profession (1536)

IT is easy to imagine Alessandrina' s joy when she found
herself safely under the peaceful roof of San Vincenzio,
after all her fears and troubles. Though, indeed, a mere
neophyte — without any rank, or even a name, amongst the
consecrated virgins of Christ — she was at least in the house
of God, far from the world she had longed to leave, and in
the atmosphere of prayer and solitude for which her soul
craved; and this was enough to make her happiness and
to fill her with ardent gratitude. Without waiting to be
clothed she gave herself up as fully as possible to every
spiritual exercise ; and, above all, to everything she could
find to do that was an act of humility towards those around
her, feeling deeply her own distance from their sanctity and
unworthiness to be amongst them. Her one longing was to
deserve, as soon as possible, to receive the habit of St
Dominic ; and with this object she undertook the practice
of every penance and austerity that was within her reach,
finding nothing too hard or severe for her young ardour.
Hidden and silent as her ways were in most respects, she
made no secret of her ambition to put on the virtues of her
"holy Father" at the same time with his livery, but spoke
with the greatest naivete of her aspirations to the nuns.

The latter, watching the little postulant's earnestness
and genuine humility, and enchanted by her fervour, were
unanimous in voting for her admission to the novitiate :
in fact, they were only too thankful to obtain such a sub-
ject. She was therefore clothed after a short probation, re-
ceiving the Religious habit from her uncle, Fra Timoteo,
who was also now her confessor. The clothing took place
on Whit Monday, May 18, 1535, when Alessandrina was

AND HER COMMUNITY 29

only thirteen years old. She had her baptismal name changed
for that of Catherine, after her dead mother — possibly, also,
from some likeness observed in her to St Catherine of Siena
when a child. A fellow-citizen of hers, Cesare Guasti,
writing in our own day, chooses to look upon this choice
of a name as a special ordination of Providence in favour
of the city of Florence, which was not to be left behind
Siena and Bologna in possessing a canonized Catherine!*
At any rate, whatever the ground of her receiving the name,
we now part company with " Alessandrina " once for all, to
follow the history of " Sister Catherine."

No sooner had the fervent postulant received the novice's
veil than one of the supernatural favours, now to become so
frequent in her life, was granted to her. She had to stand
aside whilst another postulant — Maria Raffaella Buonamici
of Prato — was clothed ; and as she stood taper in hand
during this second ceremony, she was rapt in an ecstasy
wherein she appeared to be led, in spirit, into a lovely
meadow, where Jesus Christ came, and His holy Mother
with Him, to bring her the tenderest greetings. Then she
was allowed, for the time being, to understand fully the
abundance of sweetness that is granted to those who give
up all earthly joys for the love of God. At the same time,
an inward revelation was given to her of the spiritual con-
dition of certain nuns then in the convent, whose souls she
saw to be in such a high state of sanctity that they were
like altars whereon a sacrifice of burning love was perpetu-
ally offered. Lastly, whilst still in this state, she was ex-
pressly charged by our Lord and the Blessed Virgin them-
selves to be obedient in all things to one particular nun —
Sister Maddalena de' Strozzi — who would be set over her
by her superiors, and whom she was to look upon as ap-
pointed by heaven for her special mistress and guardian.
This sister was the daughter of Raffaello Strozzi, one of the
chief persons in Florence, and she had been brought up
entirely with a view to earthly greatness, for which she
possessed every natural qualification; but just in the very
bloom of her youth she had thrown up all her prospects to

* Le Letters tfirituale, etc., Proemio, p. 9.

3o ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

consecrate herself to God in San Vincenzio. She had done
this in 1514, and was approaching middle-age when thus
chosen to be guide and mistress to Catherine. She is de-
scribed by Razzi as a woman of absolutely angelic nature,
and having even an angelic sort of beauty — " like," he says,
" the blessed spirits of Fra Angelico, for grace, dignity and
modesty, and, moreover, possessing a heavenly voice."'
She is said, during many years throughout which she had
charge of our saint — first as novice-mistress, and after-
wards as being put over her in a special manner — to have
been a true guardian-angel in zeal, tenderness, and unre-
mitting attention to her welfare ; whilst she also contributed
largely to subsequent histories of her spiritual pupil by
carefully writing down, from time to time, whatever was
most notable or marvellous in her doings.

Coming back to herself, the newly-made Sister Catherine
was filled to overflowing with joy at finding herself actually
wearing the habit she had so longed for. Not only because
of the vision just granted to her, but on account of all her
previous unusual experience in the supernatural, she was
necessarily in a very different position from any ordinary
novice in her realization of the greatness of Religious life.
To most lately-clothed postulants their reception of the habit
is but the very first step of initiation into the mysteries ot
perfection ; whilst in her case it was only an exterior sign
of a high degree of interior virtue and communion with
God, attained long before her entry into the monastery.

However, that prophecy made by her divine Spouse at
the time of her miraculous cure was to be strictly fulfilled;
and, as a beginning of the troubles foretold, she was de-
stined, in spite of virtues and aspirations, to fail — accord-
ing to all appearances — under the most ordinary trials of
the novitiate. Indeed the holy girl's career, during this
particular period of her life, is perhaps one of the most
striking examples on record of what both humiliations and
humility really mean. This history of her wonderful novice-
ship and its conclusion, too, is interesting as an intimate
picture of the Religious discipline and cloistered life of

* Seraf; Razzi, lib. I, cap. viii, p. 27.

AND HER COMMUNITY 31

her day, being taken as it chiefly is from the pages of
Sandrini, a learned member of the Dominican Order.

It was the will of God, whilst Catherine was outwardly
but a novice under her mistress, like any other, to take
the direction of her soul, really, into His own divine
hands; and whilst, for her own good, He allowed every
single thing to conspire against her, so as to make her ap-
pear utterly unfit for profession, to support her under the
cloud by His own strength, which should gradually conduct
her to those solitary heights of virtue that are the dwell-
ings of the perfect. The course of events, after the cloth-
ing and admission to novitiate, which brought about this
purifying process, was as follows.

The Sisters of San Vincenzio, in receiving little
Catherine amongst them, had of course been well aware
of all those virtues in her that were apparent — of her
angelic innocence, her wonderful piety and the ardent
longings for perfection which had but recently shone forth
in her struggles to get into the cloister. They, however,
knew absolutely nothing of all those exceptional graces —
of the visions, the ecstasies, and all the frequent and fa-
miliar supernatural communications — with which our Lord
had favoured her from her earliest childhood. She, on her
side, with that instinct of delicate reserve that belongs to
all noble and highly-gifted natures, had never dreamt of
talking about what went on within her soul, but had hidden
all the wonderful graces of her interior life beneath a veil
of humility, so impenetrable that not even her confessor
had discovered anything of her extraordinary state. In the
present stage of her history, Catherine seems to have been
under the impression that she was intended to keep all
these interior matters a complete secret between herself
and her God, even to the end of her life ; and hence arose
all the misunderstandings, contradictions, and humiliations
by which she was so terribly tried during her novitiate by
mistresses and superiors.

To begin with, her states of supernatural prayer, in
which she was rapt away from earthly things, clearly be-
came more and more frequent after her clothing ; and, when

32 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

in such states, it is easy to understand how very inconve-
nient it was for her to be subject to community obliga-
tions. She was constantly, as it were, in a most trying
dilemma; being, on the one hand, perfectly submissive in
desire to that discipline of a noviceship which allows no
breathing-space for self-will, and, on the other, having her
soul in the grasp of God Himself, who was forcibly — so
to speak — bearing it away captive as an eagle bears its prey
to the heights. She, who was by nature the very meekest
lamb of the whole flock, was thus unwillingly constrained
to appear actually rebellious. When the Rule called her to
some special community exercise, she was often not even
aware of the hour, being entirely lost in a heavenly vision.
If they had given her an order, He who had stolen her
heart proceeded to rob her yet further, not of the good-will
but of the actual time and power, for fulfilling it ; so that
those around could literally see nothing in her but apparent
faithlessness and disobedience. The only religious practices
in which she showed herself to be quite incomparably
assiduous and fervent were those that consisted in prayer
and contemplation ; but for these she got no credit at all,
because of her seeming to neglect all the rest. They could
not overlook her incapacity for manual work, and for learn-
ing the chant of the Office ; nor what seemed to be her
sleepiness and dulness of mind at recreation, and even in
spiritual conversations. In the eyes of her mistresses, this
exclusive taste for prayer was a sign of the spirit of private
judgement and of self-will. As to her companions in the
novitiate, they were chiefly taken up with external prac-
tices— rather Marthas than Marys at this early stage of
their Religious career — and were possibly a little jealous
at sight of their young fellow-novice's calm and absorbed
habits of prayer ; at any rate, they used to complain of her,
and say that all her love of God did not make her loving
to them, for that she scorned to take part in either their
work or their recreations.

There was another trouble soon added to all the spiri-
tual discredit that came upon poor Sister Catherine from
these apparent breaches of Rule and from the public re-

AND HER COMMUNITY 33

primands of her superiors. This was a further discredit of
a purely natural kind, and even more humiliating, though
having the same origin. By dint of her constant habit of
interior converse with her Lord and Master, her soul had
become so concentrated within itself that all her faculties
seemed drawn inwards, and she had the greatest difficulty in
turning her attention to the external things around her.
When superiors or companions questioned her on ordinary
matters, she often answered like a person half asleep. The
right words seemed only to come by a slow and painful
effort, which gave an effect far from favourable to her in-
telligence. Again, sometimes when she had actually begun
a conversation, or was on her way with a companion to
choir or some community gathering, her soul would sud-
denly be rapt away by a visitation of the Holy Spirit, so
that she entirely forgot what she was saying or where she
was going. There being no key whatever to all such be-
haviour on her part, in possession of her Religious mothers
and sisters, the result of it was naturally disastrous for her.
Incidents of the kind began to be looked upon as either
mere whims, or strange oddities of nature, only explicable
by the existence of some unusual stupidity, or even defi-
ciency, of mind in the poor little novice ; and by degrees,
as no improvement appeared, it came to pass that Catherine
lost all the consideration she had enjoyed as a postulant
and to be looked down upon by the whole community,
even including her special mistress, Sister Maddalena
Strozzi, who does not appear at this time to have had
more light given her about her holy little charge than was
possessed by others. Hence, the joy felt by the nuns on
their first acquisition of Pierfrancesco's saintly child as a
subject, was changed before long to a depressing convic-
tion that they had acquired one who was less than mediocre
in every way — if not even likely to be an actual burden to
the community.

Catherine, meantime — being, as we know, the very
opposite of dull or stupid — was fully aware of what was
going on around her, and both saw clearly and felt keenly
the change that was taking place in the general feeling to-

3

34 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

wards her. It was in her conduct throughout this trying
time that the solidity and genuineness of her humility
shone forth ; for the reality of all those humble feelings
that she had expressed on her first reception amongst the
nuns, as to her unworthiness to be of their number
and her deep reverence for their holiness, could not pos-
sibly have been put to a severer test than it now was.
Openly as she had talked with the Religious of her am-
bition for Dominican perfection, and plainly as they had
not hesitated to show the high expectations they had
formed of her, what must she not have felt when she
found herself no sooner a novice than compelled to fall in
their estimation ? To any ordinary girl of even high virtue
— and to a very young and loving one most of all — it
could have been nothing short of unendurably bitter to
see that she was coming to be looked upon with misgiving,
not only as to natural fitness for her high calling, but as
to the actual sincerity of her spiritual aspirations, whilst
all the time she knew the misgivings to be absolutely un-
founded. Yet no bitterness of thought seems for a moment
to have entered Catherine's heart ; and perhaps there is
nothing more touchingly attractive in the whole of this
gentle saint's career, and nothing that brings stronger
conviction of her early extraordinary sanctity than her
attitude under this sharp humiliation. Clinging firmly to
her own deeply-rooted belief that God intended her to
keep unbroken silence as to what passed within, she never
once opened her lips to defend herself from suspicion
and reprimand, or to explain the apparent eccentricities of
conduct and deficiencies of mind which she knew were
puzzling mistresses and companions alike. She went quietly
on her way, accepting everything without protest, and taking
the whole state of things as sent by her divine Spouse
Himself for the discipline of her soul, and as part of
necessary religious training. She was unaffectedly con-
vinced that it was infinitely less than her imperfections
needed or deserved, and was in truth not merely willing
but thankful to be allowed to suffer something that would
bring her nearer to Christ ; whilst her feelings of love and

AND HER COMMUNITY 35

veneration for those who were the immediate causes of
her suffering only grew deeper.

Thus, in the midst of contempt, the heroic little novice
remained actually happy for a long time, and would have
asked for no better lot than to be the lowest and most de-
spised of the community, had it not been for a terrible
fear that suddenly arose to disturb her serenity. As the
prescribed time for her profession approached, and she
was conscious of becoming an object of careful observa-
tion, she began to pay more attention to what was said of
her, and at last grasped the alarming fact that the judge-
ments being pronounced upon her all tended to nothing
less than her dismissal from the monastery on the ground
of unsuitability. Such a result as this of her novitiate
troubles appears to have been unexpected by Sister Cathe-
rine until its immediate probability suddenly burst upon
her ; and the painful impression was soon confirmed by a
distressing incident in which her uncle, Fra Timoteo,
played the chief part. This excellent man, after having
done all he could to help on his niece's early vocation,
was now more seriously troubled than any one else at her
apparent alteration. He was both tender-hearted and strictly
devoted to duty ; and here he found himself in the grievous
dilemma of having either to see his own brother's child
imposed on the communtiy as a useless burden, or to agree
to her being torn away from the home that she had nearly
died of longing for. His grief over the matter was so in-
tense that, being of an emotional and demonstrative nature,
he could not prevent its breaking forth on the first occa-
sion that arose. One day, when he was fulfilling a duty
which, according to the custom of those times, fell to him
as spiritual director of the noviceship, and was addressing
a few words of exhortation to each novice in turn accord-
ing to her particular needs, the turn of his niece came.
Whilst she was lying prostrate before him, Mother Mad-
dalena Strozzi entered the room, to make a request of the
Father about the entry of a new postulant, for whom she
wished him to act as mediator. Hearing this suggestion,
Fra Timoteo let his sorrow break forth. " O Mother ! "

36 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

he protested, " what a difficult and delicate task you are
wanting to put upon me ! How shall I ever have the
courage to interfere, and expose myself again to the risk
of bringing incapable subjects into the convent — like this
poor niece of mine, whom I should be so thankful now
never to have allowed to put her foot within it ? "

Such are the words reported by Sandrini ; and what
poor Catherine felt on hearing them uttered, and in a tone
of such deep sorrow, one may guess. Until now, whatever
her troubles had been — even when stricken nearly to death
in her father's house — she had never once really lost heart.
But this time, seeing herself threatened with final expul-
sion from her beloved cloister, hope seemed to die within
her, and she felt for the moment as if actually abandoned
by God for her sins. All that passed in that fervent girlish
heart at this terrible crisis of her life — what secret tears
and prayers she poured forth — what penances she did — to
disarm what she feared was the anger of God and win His
ear to her entreaties, can of course never be fully known ;
but one may form some idea of her inward state and hid-
den actions from the outward course she pursued when
this fear had laid hold of her. She clearly felt that her only
chance lay in an appeal to the feelings of the nuns, and
especially to the " ancients " of the monastery, upon whom
she knew much would depend. Accordingly — putting aside
all human respect — she now never met one of them any-
where in the house without falling on her knees before
her, and begging for her vote as earnestly as if her own
fate depended entirely on the favour of that one nun
only. She went on doing this so constantly, with such
deep humility, such burning anxiety, and such lamentable
tears and sobs, that the Religious could not help becoming
pitiful and tender over the poor novice's bitter grief. To
induce them by every means she could think of to soften
further towards her, and grant the grace she asked, Cathe-
rine then took to assuring them, in the most naive manner,
" that she fully expected to get from God, for the whole
time of her religious life^ all the strength and virtue that she
had been wanting in during the year of her probation."

AND HER COMMUNITY 37

Genuine humility bears a stamp that almost always
commands both sympathy and confidence, for the reason
that God seems to be present in a creature really empty of
self; and in this case the sisters of San Vincenzio were at
last completely won over by the humble novice. In spite
of all appearances against her vocation, and of all the signs
of general incapacity that she had given during her time
of trial, they were so touched by her simplicity, and by
the extreme attachment that she expressed in such lowly
terms for the Religious life, that they voted for her solemn
profession — trusting to God, "who giveth grace to the
humble," to make all right. Scarcely had they recorded
their votes than their trust was strangely confirmed, for
a strong feeling of consolation and satisfaction in what
they had done came over the whole community : they felt
as if they had performed one of the best actions in their
lives. Then — fearing lest some fresh temptation on the
subject should assail them — they desired Catherine to
prepare for immediate profession, paying no heed to her
own desire to be professed on the feast of the Assump-
tion, which was then about six weeks off. She accordingly
prepared at once, and pronounced her solemn vows on the
feast of St John the Baptist, June 24, 1536. She made
her profession in the hands of her step-mother's brother,
Fra Angelo da Diacetto, who was just then prior of St
Dominic's Friary in Prato, and who became afterwards
Bishop of Fiesole ; and her joy was now complete.

3 8 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

CHAPTER V

History of San Vincenzio at Prato and its foundresses — Fresh trials, ill-
ness, and miraculous recovery, of Catherine — Her restoration to
favour with the Community — Second illness and second cure —
Doubts as to her extraordinary states finally dispelled — Further
trials and supernatural helps — Her victory over the devil's attacks

ST CATHERINE'S solemn Religious profession, which brings
us to the real beginning of her long career in San Vincen-
zio's Convent, makes a good opportunity for giving a brief
account of the origin of this Religious house and of its
first founders. This is well worth doing, for the founda-
tion has an interesting history in many respects, especially
in being closely associated with no less celebrated a per-
sonage than Fra Girolamo Savonarola. Both because of
his connection with their own origin, and because they
shared in that universal enthusiasm for him amongst some
of his countrymen, which broke forth again and again in
different forms, under different leaders, for many years
after his death, the great Dominican was ever looked upon
by the nuns of this house as a saint and a prophet, besides
being loved as practically their founder. The establishment
of the house came about as follows :

Whilst Savonarola, as prior of San Marco in Florence,
was labouring to bring about the regeneration of that city,
which was torn in pieces by the ever-growing fervour of
his supporters the Piagnom and the violent conduct of his
opponents the Arrabbiati^ it is well known that from time
to time the preacher gave his followers a little breathing-
space by carrying the fiery torch of his eloquence into the
neighbouring towns and hamlets. Now, on one of these
expeditions, in 1495, just three years before his death, he
came to Prato with a few of his friars, to work at reform-
ing the monasteries and the morals of the population.
Here, like all true and fervent apostles of Christ's Gospel,
he was a "cause of the fall and the resurrection of many in

AND HER COMMUNITY 39

Israel";* but as a prophet sent by God, he announced
beforehand what he was to do. He foretold " falls " that he
might get people to escape them by wholesome fear ; he
foretold "resurrection" that they might be roused up to
reform by joyful hopes.

One day, when he was in the garden of Antonio
Sacromoro, opposite St Nicholas's Church, and when
somebody had informed him of irregularities in a certain
convent of daughters of St Catherine, he began prophesy-
ing about them. He sent them word, as a message from
God, that if they did not return to Christian habits, and
a more regular mode of life, the day would come when
they would be violently torn from their cloister by soldiers
and carried off by them on horseback. Another time,
standing with some of his friars before the Convent of St
Dominic, "stretching his arms towards it, he pointed to a
spot close by, saying that a fervent community of holy
virgins would shortly be established there."

Events very soon justified both these predictions. The
first of the two prophecies fulfilled was that of the " resur-
rection." The power of Fra Girolamo's apostolic preaching,
supported by the holiness of his own example, produced
abundant fruits of grace and salvation in Prato during his
stay there ; and, amongst the souls touched by God, there
were several maidens — members of highly-respected fami-
lies in the town — who formed a plan amongst themselves
for living a more perfect life. Savonarola, on leaving Prato
himself, left behind him at St Dominic's one of his Reli-
gious called Fra Silvestro de Marradi — a man of exceed-
ing piety, and one of the most eloquent preachers produced
by the training of San Marco. The life of this friar became
no less celebrated for the holiness of his works than for the
influence of his preaching, and he is placed in the ranks of
the "Blessed" of the order in Tuscany. To Fra Silvestro
these holy maids betook themselves, seeking at the dis-
ciple's hands the help they needed for developing the germ
planted in their hearts by the master. He did so well by
the little flock, thus brought under his direction, that be-

* Luke ii, 34.

40 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

fore long its members both desired and prepared for the
monastic life ; and in the year 1 503 they all appeared be-
fore Francesco Salviati, Vicar-General of San Marco's
community, then just lately arrived in Prato, to beg for the
Religious habit. Finding all satisfactory, on inquiring, he
agreed at once to their request ; and, on August 29 in that
year, gave them the habit in St Dominic's Church, in
presence of their fervent director Fra Silvestro, then prior.
The young novices were nine in number ; and, as the
sisters of St Catherine's Monastery made difficulties about
receiving them, it became needful to see about a new
foundation, both for them and for a good many more who
seemed anxious to follow their example. Pope Julius II
was approached on the subject, and gave the required au-
thority for founding the new convent, under the patron-
age of St Vincent Ferrer. Thus, eight years after Girolamo
Savonarola's prediction in Prato, the Religious house of San
Vincenzio sprang into being : foretold by his prophetic
lights, created in germ by his apostolic word, and finally made
fruitful by his death. It was, however, four years from the
date of its foundation when the convent came to occupy the
actual spot that he had pointed out, near the Gualdimari
Gate, which opens on the road to Pistoja.

The second event which verified Savonarola's prophecy
— that of the "fall" of the unfaithful nuns and their con-
vent— was also the occasion of a special intervention of
divine Providence for the protection of San Vincenzio,
then still in its early days. This event happened in the
year 1512. The pope and the emperor together had sent
arms against Florence, to punish that city for having
sided with the French, harboured schismatics, and refused
to join the League of Cambrai by restoring the Medici.
This army — commanded by the Viceroy of Naples, Ray-
mond of Cordona — attacked the town of Prato, which is
almost at the gates of Florence. Having taken it by assault
they gave it up to all the horrors of pillage. It is terrible
even to imagine what was done in the devoted town by an
army of 12,000 men, amongst whom were nearly three
hundred apostate monks of various orders, and four thou-

AND HER COMMUNITY 41

sand Moors : — the general destruction — the thefts — and
the offences of all kinds in churches and monasteries. Then
it was that St Catherine's Convent, which had despised
Savonarola's warning, became the prey of an enemy, all the
more terrible that it was at that moment the blind instrument
of the anger and vengeance of the Most High, for crimes
committed in the sanctuary and against monastic rule.
"A great number of the nuns," says Serafino Razzi,
" were actually snatched from their cloister and carried off
by the soldiers on the cruppers of their horses."

The story told of the Sisters of San Vincenzio is as
follows : They had all, it is said, assembled in the church,
with a number of girls who had rushed in from the town
to take shelter in the convent. Suddenly, whilst they were
all praying, the doors of the house were noisily flung
open, and threatening cries were heard, accompanied by
the sound of men's footsteps coming rapidly up to the
upper floor where the church was. Three Spanish captains,
as fully bent as the lowest of their soldiers on murder, pillage,
and even licence, had rushed in ; but they were stopped,
the tradition says, by a miracle. Having reached a sort of
vestibule just outside the church-door, they saw facing
them a statue of the glorious Virgin Mary which seemed
to be living. With a gesture, and in a tone of authority,
the Mother of God spoke and commanded them to respect
this monastery and to watch over it, promising them the
reward of paradise if they would faithfully obey her. The
three men, suddenly changed from raging foes into ardent
defenders, entered the church still carrying their naked
swords, and thereby terrifying the crowd of Religious and
girls into shrieking out to them to spare their lives. Great
was the astonishment of the poor women when the officers
reassured them by walking straight to the altar and swear-
ing on its sacred stone, not only to do them no harm, but
to take them under their protection and defend them from
all attacks. The promise was faithfully kept ; for the monas-
tery remained uninjured and in perfect peace for the whole
twenty-two days of the army's occupation, during which
there was universal desolation outside.

42 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

This miraculous deliverance occurred on the feast of
St John the Baptist, and in memory of the wonderful
grace the grateful community instituted a solemn yearly
celebration of the saint's day. In the morning, Mass of
our Lady was sung with full choir, and there was a general
Communion ; in the evening, a brilliant procession tra-
versed all the chief parts of the convent, in which our
Lady's statue was carried in triumph, by torchlight and
with singing of sacred canticles. There is a likeness in this
incident to the wonderful security in which, by divine
protection, the nuns of St Dominic's first foundation, at
Prouille, lived through the devastations and outrages of
the heretic army that invaded that town. Lacordaire re-
marks on this, that God seems to be specially touched by
the first works of saints, which have a purity and sweet-
ness all their own.*

The nine foundresses of this favoured Religious house,
as well as some who entered the convent afterwards, and
were Saint Catherine's companions for a time, have had
their special characteristics gracefully traced by some of
the early biographers and chroniclers of the convent.
Amongst them were several women not far inferior, in
holiness and beauty of character, to the saint herself. To
give an account of each here, however, would take more
space than can be afforded; and we must content ourselves
with shortly reproducing the portrait of the most remark-
able and important of all that company of holy virgins: —
Sister Raffaella da Giovanni da Fae"nza.

This really great Dominican woman brought to the
work of foundation not only conspicuous virtues, but all
the mental qualification needed for making these of effect.
There was no nun in the house more humble or more ex-
act in observing every detail of rule and of community
life. From the time of her entry into Religion she adopted
a habit of saying the whole Psalter every day, and of spend-
ing the hour just before Matins in prayer. Much given to
thought, she soon grasped the fact that, as nothing really
great or high had ever been done for God, or for the per-

* Vie de St Dominique, chap, iv, p. 182.

AND HER COMMUNITY 43

fecting of souls in the Church, except by true sanctity, so
her monastery could never be worthily established except
by the help of a great saint.* From the moment that she
clearly saw this the thought never left her; and she made
the gift of a real saint to the community the chief object
of her longest and most fervent prayers. The second object
for which she most earnestly petitioned, and which she
joined in her thoughts with the first as its necessary corol-
lary, was the advantage of a more spacious and suitable
church than the small and poor oratory they had begun
with. Her idea was that a beautiful and well-arranged
church should hold the same position, as regarded the
material structure of the monastery, that a saint would
hold in the spiritual fabric — namely, the furthering of
perfection by helping souls to reach more easily to union
with God.

Providence, which had its special designs on Sister
Raffaella, soon afforded her the opportunity of carrying
out her high aims as to the Religious life in her commu-
nity. When Mother Maria d'Antonio Santo, the first
prioress of San Vincenzio, knew herself about to die, she
begged the sisters to vote for Raffaella as her successor,
assuring them that her youth would be fully made up for
by the help that she would get from God. This promise
was fully justified, for the new prioress governed the con-
vent with wisdom and prudence far beyond her age. She
kept her office for twenty-two successive years, on account
of the monastery's being still under process of formation;
and for the whole of that time she gave perfect satisfaction
both to her own sisters and to the Fathers of the Order
who directed them, whilst her guidance was also of im-
mense profit to the souls under her charge. Her govern-
ment was a wonderful mixture of gentleness and severity.
Cheerful and serene of heart, and in manner, she never-
theless always carried a discipline hung to her girdle, with
which she punished on the spot every public fault or
breach of rule that she saw committed, f At the same time
her sweetness and kindness were perfect ; and the love she

* Seraf. Razzi, lib. I, cap. viii, p. 18. t Ibid-

44 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

bore to her sisters in Religion was so real that it overflowed
even on their relations, to whom she gave the most affec-
tionate proofs of it when they came on visits to the con-
vent. One of the things she watched most strictly over in
the house was silence, as being the greatest possible safe-
guard of fervent contemplation and prayer. Above all, she
insisted on its observance in the dormitories, where she
would not allow the very smallest noise. By such means
did she pursue her sublime end : the desire that her
monastery should produce a great saint, for whose appear-
ance she thus prepared the soil, being herself the pre-
cursor of Saint Catherine — the angel " sent before her
face to prepare her ways."

The thread of Sister Catherine's own history may now
be taken up again where we left it : — at the moment of
her Religious profession. This irrevocable act, far from
being the end of her trials, was only the beginning of
more and greater ones. The Dominican theologian, John
Tauler, says, speaking of those who are to be drawn into
the closest union with God : " It is not our heavenly
Father's custom to use half-measures in purifying a soul
that He destines to such high favours. He bathes it —
plunges it — throws it, so to speak, headlong — into a per-
fect ocean of bitterness, as He threw His prophet Jonas
into the sea, and as He made His tempests to overwhelm
the soul of David." So did He now act with regard to
Catherine ; and in her case there was special reason for
such purification, from the nature of the graces to be be-
stowed upon her. She was to be not only the spouse of
Jesus Christ, but of Jesus Christ crucified^ and hence it was
with His sufferings that she would be particularly associated.
In preparation for this, it was necessary that before being
allowed to share the sufferings of God she should under-
stand the full depths of human grief; and that, before
putting her lips to the chalice of His Passion, she should
have steeped them in the bitter cup of our pains and tribu-
lations here below. Through these trials we have to follow
her in the next five years of her life.

Her first trouble was a repetition, but increased, of

AND HER COMMUNITY 45

what she had already suffered from others. The return
of sympathetic feeling, which had made Catherine's sisters
in Religion receive her to the act of solemn Profession,
hardly outlasted the time necessary for arranging and ac-
complishing that act ; and it was she herself who put an
end to the feeling, by the very increase of fervour brought
about in her own heart through the gratitude that she felt
for the favour she had received. Acting on this impulse,
she plunged deeper than ever into the hidden life, and into
her former habits of solitary intercourse with the super-
natural world. As before, these habits betrayed themselves
by what appeared to be fits of absent-mindedness* and
eccentricities of conduct, which annoyed those around her
and again alienated all her companions' affections and in-
terest; only, this time, the states which caused her be-
haviour being intensified in degree, the effects were more
noticeable than formerly. Consequently, a month had barely
gone by when the poor girl found herself in a worse posi-
tion of universal discredit with the community than during
her novitiate, for she was not now the object of even the
slight degree of consideration and attention that had at-
tached to her position as a probationer. She had become
simply a fait accompli — and an unwelcome and useless one,
whom everybody soon began treating almost as if she were
not there at all. Her biographer describes her as being
"completely put on one side, and looked upon as no-
thing." f They adopted the plan of not even caring
whether she was present or absent at the regular com-
munity exercises, simply taking for granted that, if not
there, she was hidden in some corner or other of the
monastery, rapt in one of her states of abstraction — or,
as they now took to often calling these, her sleepy fits. In
short, they appear to have behaved to the saint, for the
whole of this strange period of her career, much as they
would have done to an actual idiot of inoffensive kind, in
whom no strange doings could cause surprise, but whom

* On the subject of " raptures " such as close the senses to all outward things, see
St Teresa's CAAteau Int/rieur : Sixi&mes "Demeures, chap, iv, v.
f Sandrini, lib. I, cap. viii, p. 28.

46 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

they felt at perfect liberty to treat with a sort of contemp-
tuous pity, and even to ridicule in a good-natured way if
they came across her. Thus, they are said sometimes, when
she happened to be present at spiritual conferences, to have
amused themselves by asking her questions ; and by then
laughing at the extraordinarily humble replies that she
gave, as fresh proofs of mental incapacity and foolishness.
Such conduct on the nuns' part does not impress one with
their wisdom ; but there can be no doubt that it was all
expressly allowed by our Lord for Catherine's more utter
humiliation. The higher were the graces He gave her, the
lower did she sink in the opinion of her sisters and su-
periors ; and when the sense-life was entirely suspended in
her, by reason of the soul's being rapt away to a region of
supernatural light and activity, the immovability of her
body was taken for nothing but a prolonged fainting-fit
arising from weak health.

Now, however great were the delights of her raptures
and ecstasies, when she came back from them to the shadows
of this life she certainly did not find her power of suffering
any the less for having enjoyed them. Her sensitively
tender heart was cruelly torn by the indifference and dis-
dain of her companions; for though, in her humility, she
would have willingly remained the lowest in the house, it
was quite a different matter to find herself bereft of all
affection ; and she could by no means comfort herself,
humanly speaking, under such a trial. Nevertheless, it
was the one that God had decreed for her, and which
He left her to bear without mitigation for two years.
She had to learn in advance, by her own personal experi-
ence, the full meaning of that " Canticle of the Passion "
which the Blessed Virgin was to reveal to her later on ;
and, especially, to be able with her own heart to sympa-
thize truly in that complaint of Jesus Christ's Heart :
" My friends and my neighbours have drawn near, and
stood against Me. All they that saw Me have laughed Me to
scorn : they havespoken with thelips, and wagged the head."*

But all this was only the beginning, and the least evi-

* Ps. xxxvii, 12; xxi, 8.

AND HER COMMUNITY 47

dent part, of Catherine's troubles. Two years after her
profession — in the year 1538, when she was sixteen years
old — she was suddenly seized with an illness that was as
extraordinary in its complications as it was serious in
kind. She is said to have suffered from four separate
diseases with sufficient intensity in each to bring her to
death's door ; and yet she had to lie sick of their com-
bined torture for two years uninterruptedly. The doctors,
who had been puzzled from the beginning by the nature
of this strange seizure, became fairly bewildered when
they found that the complaint baffled all their efforts
against it, as time went on. In fact, all their experiments
on the patient, for either cure or alleviation, only seem to
have resulted in making her worse ; so that at last they
had to give up all attempts at treating her and leave the
disease to take its course. The poor young saint's condi-
tion from her sixteenth to her eighteenth year is described
as heartrending ; whilst the sweet, patient submission and
courage of the sufferer are said to have been as wonderful
and as touchingly impressive as the illness. Sandrini says :
"All those who were witness of Catherine's state were con-
tinually moved even to tears ; and they found it almost
equally hard to understand how the good and just God
could allow such innocence to suffer so terribly and un-
intermittingly, and how so feeble a being could be thus
torn to pieces by incessant pains without uttering a single
cry or complaint, such as might have been some slight re-
lief to nature."* But, though man could not see it, God
was in fact preparing this chosen soul by such severe treat-
ment for His double design upon it — first, for its glorious
participation in the mysterious sufferings of God the Son ;
and, secondly, for the necessary return of the community's
sympathy and respect for the saint, through the spectacle
of her supernaturally heroic virtue under trial.

For with the coming of this cross the former one dis-
appeared, the sisters having, very soon after the strange ill-
ness began, become deeply interested in the once-despised
Catherine and most earnestly anxious for her recovery.

* Sandrini, lib. Ill, cap. xvii, p. 206.

48 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

With this object they took to praying incessantly, and to
hoping that a cure might be effected by some sort of miracu-
lous help if it were impossible by human means. They had
prayed thus perseveringly for nearly two years — besieging
with entreaties, and making vows to, our Lady and all the
special saints whose intercession they desired — without re-
sult ; when the approach of a particular date, celebrated in
the monastery, suggested to the community that they should
make a vow to certain " Blessed " of the Order whose me-
mory the date revived. It was the anniversary of the death
of Savonarola and his companions.

As has been said above, the cultus of this great man,
which — despite the tragic and humiliating circumstances
of his death — had constantly been kept up by ardent fol-
lowers and imitators in many parts of Italy, was nowhere
so fervent as at San Vincenzio's. Besides cherishing his me-
mory as a sacred thing, the Religious preserved with the
greatest care some objects that had belonged to him, and
also a few of his own ashes, saved by some generous hand
from the decree which condemned them to be all thrown
into the Arno. These relics the nuns boldly honoured as
if authenticated for those of a martyr, which they held
Savonarola, with his companions Domenico and Silvestro,
to be. They venerated his pictures, invoked his interces-
sion, and kept the day of his death as the feast of his entry
into heaven. Catherine, though last of all the community
in the knowledge of this cultus, surpassed everybody in her
devotion to its object. Accordingly, when her sisters in
Religion determined on making a special vow to " Fra
Girolamo and his companions " for obtaining her cure (we
are not told what the particular vow was), she joined fer-
vently with them, three days before the feast in question.
On the eve of this feast — which, that year, was also the
eve of Trinity Sunday — the sick girl begged to be left
quite alone in her cell, so that she might pray with more
fervour. The Monastery Chronicle relates that, while thus
left by herself, about four o'clock in the morning she
managed to get up and crawl to the little altar on which
the relics of Savonarola were placed ; and that there, lean-

AND HER COMMUNITY 49

ing exhausted on this altar, she dropped her head on her
arms and fell asleep. In her sleep she had a vision of three
Dominican friars, resplendent in glory, of whom she be-
lieved the middle and most glorious of all to have been
Fra Girolamo. The chronicler thus describes it : " Sister
Catherine, addressing this middle one, said : ' Who are
you ? ' * What ! ' replied the friar, c do you not know me ? '
* No, Father,' said Catherine, ' 1 know you not.' ' But of
whom have you begged your cure ? ' he answered. ' Of Fra
Girolamo,' she instantly responded. £ Well ! I am Fra Giro-
lamo, and I am come to cure you. But you must first pro-
mise me always to obey your superiors and your confessor,
and then you must go to confession this morning so as to
receive Communion.' With that, he made a large sign of
the cross over her, and she found herself perfectly cured.
Frightened at first by so sudden and great a change, her
fright soon gave way to joy, and to the liveliest gratitude
to God."*

Such is the account given in the convent archives of
this event, so memorable to the community as being be-
lieved by them to establish the blessedness of Savonarola
and his companions. It had also the immediate effect of
sensibly modifying the sisters' attitude towards Catherine
in respect of her extraordinary states of mind, which they
felt unable to judge so severely after such a proof as this
of her being under the special protection of heaven, as well
as after watching the heroic courage that she had shown
throughout her long illness. They began now to wonder
whether, under the appearance of what they had looked
upon as mere common " faintings and sleepy fits," there
had not been hidden something of a much higher nature.
They tried to recall circumstances, and to remember exactly
what had been Sister Catherine's appearance and proceed-
ings when in these states. They recollected that, instead of
having closed eyes and drooping head, as in ordinary heavy
slumbers — or a pale, livid face, and nerveless body, as in
common fainting fits — or convulsive and revolting move-
ments with foaming at the mouth, as in epilepsy — she had

* Le Lettere, etc. — Document!, etc., p. 48.

5o ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

had her eyes open, and sometimes a most brilliant colour
in her cheeks ; had remained firmly in whatever attitude
she had been in when the seizure came upon her — whether
kneeling, standing, or sitting — without any sign of weak-
ness or relaxed muscles ; and, however insensible to what
was around her, had never made a sign or movement to
inspire any feelings but those of piety in anybody near
her. Recalling all this, and looking at the young sister
now with very different personal feelings from those they
had formerly entertained towards her, the nuns, and their
spiritual director with them, came finally to the conclusion
that they had been mistaken in their earlier judgement of
Catherine's strange states, and that these had probably
been signs of some supernatural intervention concerned
with her soul. Consequently, after serious deliberation, it
was decided that her interior spiritual state should be
examined with all necessary prudence, so that its con-
formity with the Holy Spirit, and the absence of any
possible delusions from the spirit of lies, should be fully
tested.

The venerable Father Timoteo, accordingly, had the
humble Catherine brought before him. He began by pro-
fessing great surprise and displeasure at her having con-
cealed from him, and only let him hear through others,
things that he, as her confessor, ought to have heard straight
from herself. He then went on to dilate on her imprudence
in practising such entire want of openness with her su-
periors, by which conduct she had exposed her soul to
the danger of becoming a victim of the devil's delusions
and snares ; and finally ordered her, in virtue of the au-
thority he held from God, to give him then and there an
account of everything that she saw and heard in her states
of rapture. This was a sharp blow to the Saint's humility
and habits of silence, but obedience prevented her from
opposing such a direct command ; so, falling on her knees
at the feet of her spiritual father, she humbly begged his
pardon for never having revealed her interior graces to
him, and (says the author of the anonymous life) "con-
fessed with great simplicity and frankness that it had never

AND HER COMMUNITY 51

entered her head that she might be deceived in such matters
by the devil." * Then, amid tears and sobs, and with such
confusion as might have been shown by a criminal from
whom a confession was being wrung, she told him about
all the apparitions she had had of our Lord, of the Blessed
Virgin, and of the Saints ; about the holy instructions that
she had received in such visions on the great mysteries of
religion; and about the injunctions that had been laid upon
her. Lastly, she described the effect of all these visions —
how, after at first having given her a certain sense of fear,
they had always ended by filling her soul with deep peace,
intense joy, and great love of God.

Father Timoteo, on hearing all this, was too wise to
show the pleasure he inwardly felt at such an account, given
by a soul so full of innocence and so truly dear to his own
heart. He even pretended at first to think them all delu-
sions, and told his niece that such visions were only traps
laid by the infernal spirit to attract and mislead souls.
Then, to put her on her guard in future, he ordered her
positively to make the sign of the Cross over every spirit,
or figure, that might appear to her; and to receive all such
apparitions with marks of nothing but contempt. Cathe-
rine, we are told, exclaimed nafvely at this: "What! Father,
do you tell me I am to show marks of contempt to Jesus
Christ, and to His holy Mother and the Saints ? Is it pos-
sible ? " But she only got from her uncle in reply a severe
reproof, and the observation that God and His saints love
what springs from obedience before all things, so that a con-
temptuous sign ordered by this can be nothing in their
eyes ; whilst the devil, being the embodiment of pride and
disobedience, cannot endure contempt. The holy man next
appointed the very sister who, it may be remembered, she
had long ago been told in a vision would one day be her
special superior — Sister Maddalena Strozzi — to be her per-
sonal guardian and mistress, from whom she was to con-
ceal nothing that happened to her interiorly ; and he con-
cluded the interview by strictly enjoining her to come
every evening, before she went to bed, to give him an ac-

* Vita tAnonima, ch. ix, p. 65.

52 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

count of whatever she had heard or seen by means of visions
or ecstasies throughout the day.

Poor Catherine seems to have been greatly overwhelmed
by this close examination into her state and these orders,
and to have felt herself, though in a different form, once
more the object of mistrust. The hitherto unknown fears,
too, which had been aroused in her mind by Father Ti-
moteo's words, and the idea that she might possibly be
deceived by the devil, were naturally more terrible to such
a soul than any of the trials she had had before. Indeed,
she hardly knew how to bear a state of things which com-
pelled her actually to dread the coming of heavenly favours,
and to try even to repel the inspirations of the Holy Spirit
and the familiar intercourse of the Divine Spouse. Mean-
time, she was not spared fresh sufferings and trials of ex-
terior kind. About six months after her cure, towards the
end of October in 1540, she was attacked with smallpox,
which was just then raging in Prato in a peculiarly violent
form. It exhausted the strength of its victims, so as to
bring them to death's door, with extreme rapidity and the
accompaniment of sharp pains. The whole monastery was
in consternation when Catherine fell ill of this disease —
not so much on account of the complaint itself and its
mortal nature, as because it seemed so inexplicable that
this pure soul should again have such severe treatment
from Providence. The sisters even began to doubt whether
the former cure had been a true miracle, and to frighten

•* O

themselves with the thought that perhaps it had been a de-
moniacal work.

The Saint had been lying between life and death, in
great agony, for nearly a month, when she was once more
cured after much the same manner as before, only being
this time, she believed, awakened from sleep by a sudden
touch, and beholding again the same three friars who had
appeared to her in her sleep on Savonarola's feast. The
one whom she had formerly held to be Fra Girolamo him-
self again cured her by the sign of the Cross, after making
her acknowledge that she wished to have her health re-
stored if it was the will of God ; but on this occasion he is

AND HER COMMUNITY 53

described as healing her gradually, by making the sacred
sign over her several times, and as afterwards forbidding

o * o

her to leave her cell (which she was on the point of doing
at once) until she had leave from the infirmarian to do so
— to which prohibition he added an exhortation to be al-
ways obedient in the smallest things, patient in trial, and
humble before God.

This fresh miracle set the returning doubts of the
Community entirely at rest, and increased the respect that
they had begun to feel for God's great designs on Cathe-
rine's soul, after her first cure. The sisters appear to have
been somewhat ashamed of their inclination to rash judge-
ment, and anxious to second the Saint's gratitude to God
for her restoration by joining most earnestly in the thanks
that she offered to our Lord. In the fervour of her grati-
tude, Catherine wrote a Lauda, or song of praise and
thanks, to the three holy friars, Girolamo, Domenico and
Silvestro, in which she gave full vent to her feelings of
love and veneration for her " Founder " and his com-
panions.

But even now the end had not come of Catherine's
troubles, physical or mental. From this latter part of 1 540
to the end of 1541 — being till just over five years from
her Profession — she was constantly subjected to sharp
sufferings, interior and exterior, of a kind clearly inflicted
by God as the immediate means of that absolutely perfect
purification necessary for her special calling. Innocent and
holy as she might be, there was evidently still left some
small remnant of self that must be pressed out, no matter
at what cost, before peace could come.

As regards bodily sufferings during this year, three are
particularly mentioned.

First, an extraordinary pain in the teeth, of which she
is said to have been miraculously cured by the intervention
of Fra Girolamo, and then, within a short interval, two
strange illnesses, which took the form of sudden poisoning,
with most violent internal pains, great swelling of the body,
tremblings, and convulsions. Of these, also, she was mira-
culously cured : the first time, Razzi tells us, by a vision

54 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

of St Thomas Aquinas, who not only cured her, but filled
her with consolation, exhorted her to go oftener to Commu-
nion, and told her that her prayers had delivered her mo-
ther's soul from Purgatory ; the second time, through the
application by Maddalena Strozzi of Savonarola's relic.*

These two attacks appear both to have taken place to-
wards the end of her five years' probation ; but before this
time Catherine had been undergoing a course of terrible
trials of a more directly spiritual kind than had yet been
her lot. These came from the enemy of souls himself, with-
out some attempts from whose jealousy and malice it was
not likely that such a soul would long remain ; and of
whose subtle deceits, moreover, it was doubtless as neces-
sary that she should learn something as it was for her to
experience purely human troubles. Satan, F. Filippo Guidi
tells us, attacked Catherine in two different ways. First, he
attempted to hinder her from praying, by those external
means that one so often hears of his being allowed to em-
ploy against very holy people : by noises, horrible sights,
disgusting odours, and even actual shaking of the place that
she was praying in ; whilst she sometimes also heard him,
as if full of bitter grief, entreating her to be satisfied with
making him powerless against herself, and not to snatch the
souls of others from his grasp.

But these open attacks, her biographer goes on to say,
were nothing at all to the Saint compared to the spiritual
snares and subtle illusions with which he next took to be-
sieging her. He was allowed so to counterfeit the inward
operations of grace as very nearly to draw her into all sorts
of imprudent excesses in her devotions, and to produce
appearances of heavenly visions so overpowering in their
splendour that any less perfectly humble and watchful soul
than Catherine might have been quite deceived. She, how-
ever, having light to see through the deception, felt only
most intense grief and mistrust of self under these attacks,
and redoubled the fervour of her entreaties to God. At last,
we are told, the devil made a peculiarly bold attempt by
appearing to her in the form of St Peter with his keys,

* Seraf: Razzi, lib. II, cap. vi, pp. 63, 64,

AND HER COMMUNITY 55

on the eve of the great Apostle's feast in 1541 ; when the
glory and venerableness of his aspect were so great that she
at first forgot her prescribed custom of making the sign of
the cross and showing contempt as a test, and for a few
minutes gazed trembling and awestruck at the vision. Satan
took advantage of this to deliver, in the capacity of the
saint, an exhortation so strange in conception that it is
worth giving a full account of. He is described as having
spoken in a tone of " gentle remonstrance and noble gra-
vity," and as if filled with interest in the monastery. He
reproached Catherine, and the other nuns too, for putting
their trust so exclusively in the protectors that they had
chosen for themselves in heaven, as this made them neg-
lect seeking help from man. He said it was tempting God
and the saints ; and that it was exacting too much from the
latter to try to draw them away from the enjoyment of their
eternal happiness and glory, and get them to be always
occupying themselves with the wretched, petty affairs of
this world. It would be much wiser — and more according
to the right order of Providence as well — for them to keep
within their appointed earthly sphere, and to seek protec-
tors and patrons amongst the rich and powerful here below,
who were far better able to appreciate their needs, and to
supply them.

By such language — coming apparently from one of the
Blessed themselves — it is easy to understand that the evil
one overshot his mark. Its impiety and blasphemy — her
momentary delusion once over — struck Catherine's heart
with a shock through all its disguise of holy-sounding ac-
cents; and, horrified, she made the sign of the Cross, call-
ing for God's help with all her might, when the wolf in
sheep's clothing speedily took to flight by disappearing with
all his apparent glory.

Then followed — still according to Guidi — a reward of
the young saint's faithfulness and humility. This false vi-
sion left her in a state of utter depression and sadness —
not merely because of this particular attack itself, but be-
cause she felt so cast down and terrified at the thought of
being constantly exposed to such temptation, and in clanger

56 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

of falling. Unable to bear the prospect of future trials of
the kind, she determined on one tremendous act of confi-
dence in God whereby to call down His special mercy on
her state of trouble. She flung herself then and there at the
feet of her crucifix, resolved not to rise until she had re-
ceived the grace of final delivery from her fears; and there
she spent the whole night, in such trusting and fervent
prayer that our Lord could not deny Himself to so much
love. He not only appeared to her with the greatest and
most comforting aspect and manner, but He crowned His
favours by giving her a solemn promise that she should
never be the victim of Satan's treacherous deceits.*

* Filippo Guidi, cap. xxxiv, pp. 78-80.

THE ORATORY AT SAN VIXCENZIO— ONCE THE SAINT'S CELL.

AND HER COMMUNITY 57

CHAPTER VI

Some joys accompanying these trials — Our Lord changes Catherine's heart
— The beginning of her great ecstasy of the Passion

THE time of sharp trial, just recorded as having lasted with
more or less severity for the five first years of Catherine's
professed life, was not without its notable alleviations in the
form of supernatural joys. Besides the wonderful Divine
promise recounted at the end of the last chapter concern-
ing her diabolical temptations, several most consoling vi-
sions, or other marvellous visitations, are narrated as having
been sent to rejoice the Saint's heart in the midst of her
sufferings; and these seem to have been especially frequent
in the last year of the five. For instance — to take a few of
the most notable mentioned by Razzi — when she was offer-
ing very earnest thanks, in the chapel, on Christmas Day,
1 540, for the two miraculous cures that she believed due
to Savonarola's intercession, a very beautiful appearance of
Our Lady with the Sacred Infant in her arms, and seem-
ingly accompanied by Fra Girolamo, is recorded, when
Catherine was allowed to take the Holy Child into her
arms.

Another vision of our Lady and the saints — but, this
time, surrounding our Lord Himself in all the glory of
His Resurrection — is said to have taken place on the Whit
Tuesday following, in the dormitory corridor, and to have
completely dazzled her by its brilliancy. This vision was
the cause of a miraculous occurrence that immediately fol-
lowed it — namely, of a gentle reproach, uttered next morn-
ing through the figure of our Lord which Catherine had
detached from the cross of her cell crucifix, the better to
contemplate and lovingly adore it. A voice, seeming to
come from this figure, admonished the holy young nun
that she had committed a fault of disobedience, in having
decided that it was not necessary to go and tell her confessor

58 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

about the vision that had appeared to her the day before,
because none of the saints had spoken to her. Catherine, we
are told, melted into tears at such a reproach, with heart-
felt entreaties for pardon; and we may safely conclude that
she never again committed an act that could offend in the
slightest degree against Religious obedience.

Again, in the early part of '41, the saint is recorded to
have been miraculously confessed by a father sent from
heaven, who took the form of her Uncle Timoteo, the
community confessor, when the latter was really absent
from Prato. A similar miracle is related of St Elizabeth of
Hungary, who had St John the Baptist to hear her con-
fession : only in Catherine's case it was not a canonized
saint whom she believed to have been thus sent, but once
more the "Holy Father and Founder" of her convent,
Fra Girolamo.*

But, of all the visions related as having been granted
to the holy maiden during this period, the one of most
interest and importance, as being immediately related to
the great purpose for which she was being prepared, is the
following, which we give as verbally taken from Razzi :

"It was the Friday before Palm Sunday, in the begin-
ning of April, 1541. Catherine had gone after dinner into
a chapel in the garden, to gain a weekly plenary indulgence
which Pope Paul III had attached to a large cross that was
put up there. When she reached the threshold she raised
her eyes, and saw before her three crosses instead of one ;
and on the middle one she beheld our Lord Jesus Christ
in so torturing an attitude that, from the violent shock
caused by her first sight of it, she all but fainted with grief.
However, making a great effort, she went nearer to the
cross, and there looked close at a lamentable sight indeed.
Our divine Lord's head, as though almost severed from
the neck, hung down on His breast in such a manner that
His face rested upon it. The breast so protruded that
all the ribs appeared to be dislocated. His hair — here and
there in disorder — fell partly over His face, and streamed
with blood, as did His beard also. From the large opening

* Razzi, lib. II, cap. iv and v.

AND HER COMMUNITY 59

in His side the blood gushed forth as from a fountain. All
the rest of His body, torn and bruised, was covered with
livid spots and clotted blood. His hands were stretched so
far above His body that it seemed as if flesh and bone
must soon break apart, whilst the body itself — weighed
down towards earth — appeared on the point of falling. At
the foot of the cross was a pool of blood, around which
some women were moaning and wailing.

Poor Sister Catherine, finding herself in presence of
such a heartrending spectacle, was torn with inward con-
flict : on one hand, she did not feel courage to endure the
sight, and on the other she had not, at first, strength to
leave the spot. At last, recommending herself to God, she
tore herself away as best she could; and having, with great
difficulty, got back to her cell, she was forced to take to
her bed, utterly crushed with the force and anguish of the
sensations she had undergone; and there she had to remain
for ten days, suffering an actual illness from the compas-
sion that had overwhelmed her for her crucified God.*

Catherine understood from this vision that the great-
est sufferings of her life were to come — and that before
long — from union with the Passion of her Divine Spouse;
but (Razzi goes on to tell us) on rising from the sick-bed
to which her grief had brought her she was almost imme-
diately consoled and strengthened by a second apparition,
typical of the joy that should follow her future sufferings.
In this vision St Mary Magdalen appeared, and led the
awe-struck maiden into the presence of Christ, standing in
her own cell amid the dazzling light set forth by His glo-
rified body. She was allowed to approach and kiss His sa-
cred feet and the wounds in His side; and she offered
humble petitions for her Religious Sisters, that they might
be always protected from the snares of the devil. After this,
our Lord dismissed her at sound of the office bell.f

We come next to one of the greatest events of the
saint's early Religious life, which took place on June 6 in
the same year — 1541. This was no less than that marvel-
lous mystical transformation that had also been formerly

* Razzi, lib. II, cap. v, pp. 59, 60. t Ibid, p. 61.

60 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

worked in Catherine's namesake of Siena, and that took
place during her own century in St Philip Neri — the mys-
terious event of a change of heart. Sister Catherine de' Ricci
is said by Razzi to have prayed, like her predecessor and
her contemporary, that God would give her " a new heart,
all divine and heavenly"; and she received this signal fa-
vour on the feast of Corpus Christi.

The account given of the occurrence is that on the
morning of that day, after receiving Holy Communion, she
was rapt in spirit into heaven. There it seemed to her that
the glorious Queen of Angels presented her to our Lord
Jesus Christ, begging Him, with humble insistence, to be
graciously pleased to change Catherine's heart, as she had
so long desired. The Son of God heard and granted His
august Mother's prayer without delay. Then did the Saint,
in one of those transports of love such as the Blessed ex-
perience, feel something mysterious take place within her
heart; and she was conscious at the same time of what felt
like a flood of entirely new life coursing suddenly through
her veins. The Divine Redeemer had in that moment taken
away her heart and given her a new one, formed on the
model of that of His most holy Mother, the Virgin Mary.*

An immense and unspeakable joy seized hold of Ca-
therine when she thus found herself in possession of an-
other life — of a fresh existence, in fact — far superior to her
former one. This was no illusion caused by her miraculous
presence in the home of the Blessed; for, when she had re-
gained her senses and come back to earth, she saw clearly
that it was a real blessing and gift of the Divine bounty.
She felt her soul still so raised above earthly things and so
illuminated as to the things of God, that she seemed to be
living no longer in this dreary world, but in the abode of
eternal light. Accustomed as she had already become, from
the heights of contemplation to which her Divine Spouse
had led her, to gazing on marvellous visions from the eter-
nal regions, yet the summits whither this new heart seemed
to carry her opened out of her spiritual sight such marvels
as made her declare " that she did not know herself." In

* Razzi, lib. II, cap. vi, p. 63.

AND HER COMMUNITY 61

short, she seems to have experienced something of the
burning love and fervour bestowed by the Holy Ghost on
the Apostles in the Cenacle. She never tired of declaring
that she was now living in a climate and breathing
an atmosphere not of this world, and that this heavenly
air had become the food of her new life.* It was to her
faithful guardian, Sister Maddalena, that she made (as in
duty bound) these confidences; and, after talking about her
wonderful state, Razzi says that she would protest to her
devoted mistress: " No! you must no longer call my heart
Catherine 's heart — you must call it the heart of the glorious
Virgin Mary!"

Now, however great may be the beauty and however
sublime the perfection of those seraphic souls on whom
Christ is pleased to bestow such extraordinary favours as
these, they are not usually granted except to those whom
God predestines for some public mission in the Church;
and just in this way did our Lord act with regard to Saint
Catherine de' Ricci. When He took away her heart, and
gave her another like to that of the Blessed Virgin, He gave
her also a public office corresponding to the grace. This
office was to reproduce, in her own person, after the pattern
of His Mother at the foot of the Cross, all the actions of
Jesus Christ when He saved the world through the suffer-
ings of His Passion. This great mystery of our redemption
always has been, and always will be, the abiding object of
contemplation for Christian souls. All saints in turn have
in some form followed the bleeding path to Calvary, there
to kiss His footsteps and to water them with their tears;
and many amongst them have had the privilege of either
receiving the sacred Stigmata, or of partially showing His
pains by some other means, in their own bodies. But since
the most holy Virgin herself felt every separate suffering
of her Son by attending Him to the cross and the tomb,
our historians declare that none of the saints — no matter
how they might have suffered with and for Christ, nor even
though they had been honoured with the Stigmata — had
ever before reproduced the mystery of the Compassion to the

* Sandrini, lib. I, cap. xvii, p. 61.

62 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

same degree as Catherine de' Ricci was called to do: none

O

had personally retraced, as she did, all its incidents.

It was on the first Thursday of February, 1542, that
Catherine — then twenty years old — had, for the first time,
this wonderful ecstasy which was destined to be renewed
every week until the year 1554. Beginning always on a
Thursday at noon, it went on till four o'clock on Friday
evening, thus lasting twenty-eight hours.

The following was the regular order of this marvellous
phenomenon :

It began with the touching scene of separation between
Jesus and His Mother, which lasted four hours, during
which Catherine heard the Son and Mother discourse on
the great mystery about to be wrought.

At four o'clock, she followed Jesus as He set out from
Bethany for Jerusalem; and, on the way, she listened to the
wonderful words in which He described to His disciples,
that He might strengthen them, all the details of the forth-
coming events. On entering the city, she went towards
Mount Sion, where the Cenacle was.

She entered this sacred room at five o'clock, and was
present at the Last Supper, at the washing of feet, at the
institution of the Holy Eucharist, and at that beautiful
discourse which followed, up to the words : "Arise! let us
go" These different actions took up two hours.

At seven o'clock she left the Cenacle and wended her
way to the Mount of Olives, preceding our Lord and His
disciples.

Jesus waited a few minutes in the house close by the
Garden of Gethsemane ; and it was eight o'clock when
Catherine followed Him as He entered the Garden. For
three hours she watched, as all the phases of the Great
Mystery of the Agony were gone through — Our Saviour's
prayer, prostrate on the ground ; His repugnance, and
His resignation, before the chalice of His Passion ; the
angel's apparition, and the bloody sweat.

At eleven o'clock she beheld Jesus, feeling that His
enemies were near, rise, and go to seek His disciples ; and
for half-an-hour she heard Him exhorting them to watch

AND HER COMMUNITY 63

and pray. Then Judas arrived with his band of soldiers ;
she saw them felled to the earth by our Lord's word, and
was then present at the flight of His disciples, at His arrest,
and at all the insults heaped upon him up to the hour of
midnight.

At that hour they started for Jerusalem, and reached
the house of Annas at one o'clock in the morning. There
she was witness of the questions put to Jesus — which lasted
half-an-hour — and of the blow given to Him by the High
Priest's servant.

Another half-hour was taken up in going to the tribu-
nal of Caiphas, and waiting there for his hour of giving
audience.

It was not until two in the morning that Jesus appeared
before Caiphas. His interrogations and appeals, the testi-
mony of the false witnesses, and the hypocritical indigna-
tion which caused the chief priest to tear his garments,
lasted a little over an hour.

A little after three o'clock Catherine followed Jesus to
Pilate's judgement seat, before which (having taken some
little time in going and in waiting) they actually appeared
only at about a quarter to four. This corresponded to St
John's statement, when he says that it was "morning"
erat autem mane.

Pilate questioned our Blessed Lord for half-an-hour,
and then sent Him back to Herod. The latter contemptu-
ously sent Him back after another half-hour's examination,
which — including the time of the walk — caused Him to
reappear before Pilate at half-past five. This magistrate,
knowing the wickedness and treachery of the Jews, inter-
rogated Jesus yet once more for half-an-hour, trying to
find some means of getting Him out of their hands with-
out compromising himself. But he yielded at last like
a coward to their threatening clamour, and condemned Him
to be tied to the column, there to undergo the torture of
scourging. This cruel punishment, begun at six o'clock,
only came to an end at a quarter past seven.

The instant it was over the saint beheld the soldiers
press round Jesus to crown Him with thorns. She said

64 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

that out of respect for this sacred crown, our Redeemer
placed Himself reverently on His knees to receive it. The
soldiers, however, soon compelled Him to sit down, that
they might insult Him the more easily ; when they put a
reed in His hand, spit on Him, and did all those insult-
ing acts described in holy Scripture.

At eight o'clock, she saw Pilate take Jesus from the
soldiers' hands, and present Him to the people, saying,
Ecce Homo. Then she witnessed all the fluctuations of that
feeble soul, wavering between the innocence of the divine
Prisoner and the furious demands of the mob which called
for His blood.

She heard the sentence of death pronounced upon our
Lord at half-past nine, and watched them spend half-an-hour
in preparing the instrument of His execution. It was ten
o'clock on Friday morning when they presented Him with
His Cross ; and she saw Him humbly bend His sacred
shoulders to receive it, and carrying it painfully up the
steep ascent of Calvary, not without falling several times
under the weight. He reached the summit of the moun-
tain at eleven, and an hour was spent in first making the
needful preparations and in then stripping Him of His
garments and nailing Him on His gibbet of shame.

At the second noon of her ecstasy, Catherine beheld
the Cross raised upright, and gazed on Jesus hanging there
alive, for three whole hours, between the anger of heaven
and the outrages and blasphemies sent up to Him from
earth.

He died at three o'clock ; and at four His body was
taken down from the Cross and placed in the arms of His
forlorn mother.

At that moment the saint came out of her ecstasy, hav-
ing not only beheld, but suffered in her own soul and body,
every act of our Lord Jesus Christ throughout His most
painful Passion — an agony that, as His faithful spouse,
she was to experience, not once only, but every week for
twelve years of her life.

In this ecstasy, as in all her others, Catherine's face
wore a supernatural splendour and a majestic expression

AND HER COMMUNITY 65

proper to an angelic countenance alone,* which inspired
those who looked upon her with both deep respect and a
strong attraction for the things of God. But whilst, in her
usual states of rapture, she remained motionless — her eyes
fixed, and no sign visible of what she felt except changes
from pallor to crimson in her face, according to the emo-
tions she might be going through — in her ecstasy of the
Passion her body moved in conformity with the gestures,
attitudes and all the various motions of our Lord's own
body throughout His sufferings. For instance, she held
out her hands as if to be bound, at the hour of His cap-
ture; she stood majestically upright to represent His fasten-
ing to the pillar for the scourging ; bent her head as though
to receive the crown of thorns; and so with all other inci-
dents of the Passion. She adopted all these attitudes and
made all these movements with such gentle gravity and
modesty as to call to mind that divine Lamb prophesied
of by Isaias who should be "dumb before the shearers"
and should "open not His mouth before the slaughterer."

When all outward action was suspended, the spectators
knew by the words she used what part of the sacred drama
she had reached. Thus, in the calm and solemn time of its
beginning, she was evidently in the house at Bethany, be-
cause words fell from her lips such as Jesus might address
to His Mother in bidding her farewell. Again, a shudder-
ing of her form, with a cry to her Creator to spare her,
betrayed the agony when the terrible sufferings were ap-
proaching; whilst soon afterwards she was heard to offer
herself unreservedly to Jesus, that she might share His
pains to the full extent of His holy will; and, later on still,
she would call on her divine Spouse to help her in bearing
the heavy weight of the cross, and wonder "how He could
have borne it Himself, tender and delicate as He was!"f

Often she would take occasion from the various suffer-
ings of Jesus Christ to address fervent exhortations to her
sisters on the fulfilment of their Rule and the practise of
monastic virtues, which she did with a knowledge, lofti-
ness of thought and eloquence not to be expected from a

* Compendia delta f^ita, etc., cap. iv, p. 21. t Vita Anonima^ cap. viii, p. 57.

66 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

woman, and especially from a woman neither learned nor
literary — so says one of her historians ; and he adds that
one would have thought that a consummate theologian or
father of the Church was speaking. The same historian also
says that she would speak during these ecstasies in different
characters, i.e., sometimes in the person of Christ, some-
times in that of His Mother or of St Dominic, and some-
times again in her own name — and that she would vary her
voice accordingly. Again, he tells us that at times she broke
forth into ejaculations or invocations to her divine Spouse
so full of burning love, or compassion for His sufferings,
that her hearers could not but feel themselves extra-
ordinarily inflamed with love of God; whilst sometimes
she would speak directly to sinners, reproaching them
with ingratitude, and moving any who might happen to
be present to tears of tender compunction. She prayed also
at intervals most fervently for her sisters in religion — both
giving thanks for them and begging pardon for their
faults; for the universal Church and all its needs; for the
remission of all sin; and lastly for herself, that she might
not become the victim of Satan by means of some secret
fault existing beneath all these heavenly favours.*

Notwithstanding the saint's abstraction from whatever
was passing round her during this ecstasy, if any one pre-
sent thought of begging some particular grace from God,
or merely of asking His blessing by the hand of His servant,
her arm — while the rest of her body still remained motion-
less— immediately moved towards the person who had thus
prayed, and she made the sign of the cross over the suppli-
cant. This action, it is said, inspired all who saw it with
a sense of mingled awe and fear, as at a divine apparition;
for it was felt that God Himself had instantly answered
a secret thought of the heart by His faithful handmaiden's
agency.

This marvellous contemplation of Sister Catherine's
always went on uninterrupted for its full course of twenty-
eight hours, save for the one break of her receiving holy
Communion. When this time arrived, her soul came down

* Vita Anonima, cap. viii, pp. 57-59.

6?

from the heights of rapture, and she reassumed her senses
to honour Jesus Christ in the sacrament of His body and
blood; but after having received it, she was rapt again into
her ecstasy at the point where she had quitted it. We arc
told that every time this hour of Communion recurred, it
was announced to those in the house by a delightful per-
fume which seemed to exhale from her body, and which
scented the whole quarter of the convent that she inhabited,
thus making known her longing to receive her Lord, which
was at once complied with.

When at last the great ecstasy was over, she came forth
from it even as a brave soldier comes off the battle-field:
her body covered with the wounds she had received in this
glorious combat of love and suffering. The bleeding signs
of likeness to her crucified Spouse were imprinted on her
whole person, which bore visible marks of the scourging,
of the thorn-crown, of the crucifixion, and even of the
cords they had used to take Him down from the cross.*

* Vita Anonitna, cap. viii, p. 59.

68 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

CHAPTER VII

The Ecstasy of the Passion is examined by the Provincial and by the
General of the Order — Their favourable verdict — Other doubts set
at rest — The "Canticle of the Passion" revealed to Catherine

So considerable a phenomenon as the ecstasy just described
could not, of course, fail to produce an enormous sensation
in San Vincenzio's Convent. From the first day that it oc-
curred, in fact, the house may be described as having been
literally turned upside down — not, however, as might per-
haps be supposed, by any hasty, enthusiastic excitement,
but rather by a general feeling of truly religious fear and
mistrust. The holy women who formed the community
were too really wise, and the marvel was too great a one,
for them to adopt a blind belief in its divine authenticity.
Accustomed to put into practice St John the Evangelist's
advice with regard to supernatural gifts, which advice re-
quires that they should be tested before acceptance, the
nuns reserved their opinions all the more completely that
they felt the grace to be so extremely wonderful if it were
really authentic. Through humility, they dared not hope
this ; through love for their Sister Catherine, and for the
honour of their monastery, they dreaded nothing so much
as a deception. Never before had they felt so closely
threatened by some appalling artifice of Satan's. Thus,
throughout the community, there burst forth one great
explosion, so to speak, of prayer against such a possible
misfortune.

Apart from the general good, there was not a single
Religious in the house who did not shudder at the very
thought that so holy and humble a soul should become
the sport of the devil ; and nobody was so anxiously con-
cerned about this as the saint herself. It was touching to
see her, on coming out of her ecstasies, throw herself pro-
strate at the feet of her companions, and entreat them,
with tears, to obtain for her by the fervour of their prayers

AND HER COMMUNITY 69

what she feared she could not get by her own. The supe-
riors of the convent, on their part, did all they could by
recommending the strictest discretion in speech to prevent
any account of the wonder from getting prematurely known
outside ; but Providence, apparently intending the ecstasy
to be made public, defeated their precautions, and allowed
the matter — whether by means of pupils in the school who
found it out and reported to their parents, or by seculars
who came into the convent for employment and gossipped
in the town, was not known — to get bruited so universally
in Prato that it soon reached Florence, and came to the
ears of the Father Provincial of the Roman Dominican
province, to whom the chief jurisdiction of San Vincenzio
belonged. This office was held just then by Padre Fran-
cesco Romeo di Castiglione, a worthy son of San Marco's
in his piety, zeal for regular observance, and remarkable
learning ; all of which qualities caused him to be raised
later on to the dignity of General of the whole Order, and
to become one of the most noted theologians in the Coun-
cil of Trent. Hearing all these rumours from Prato, which
came to him accidentally and without any official notice
from the convent, he felt disagreeably impressed, fearing
that premature reports of such things might turn to the
discredit of the monastery and the whole Order, should
time reveal the reported ecstasies to be false. Accordingly,
faithful to the duty of his office, and determined to see
how the land lay, he straightway betook himself to the
spot. He certainly lost no time ; for Catherine's great
ecstasies dated only from the beginning of February, 1 542,
and by the end of that month he was at Prato to judge
them ! His visit, with the severe punishments that might
possibly come in its train, was officially announced before-
hand ; and the announcement is said by Razzi to have pro-
duced a striking instance both of the saint's lowliness and
of the high place she held in the esteem of those who knew
her intimately. He recounts that, when the news arrived,
she went straight to her dear mistress and confidante^ and,
with humble and charming simplicity, said to her: "Mo-
ther, if somebody comes to punish me for my 'trances'

yo ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

(as she called her ecstasies), and condemns me to prison,
I am quite ready to go there, and to suffer everything for
the love of Jesus. Only, I entreat you, do manage so that
they may put me somewhere that will not frighten me too
much ! Let the cell be as narrow and wretched as you like
— 1 shall not mind that, for I know I deserve nothing
else ; but I should love you more than ever if you would
only be so good as to keep me company there, and not
leave me all alone! " The confidante was well worthy of
such a sweet and gentle soul ; for she went to Catherine's
uncle, Fra Timoteo, and thus expressed her feelings :
" Father, I assure you that if they were to shut me up in
a dark, narrow prison with your niece I should rejoice at
it, and think myself happy ; for, with her, the most hor-
rible dungeon would be to me a garden of delights, know-
ing as I do how pleasing that soul is to God, and how dear
to His Heart ! " *

Arrived at San Vincenzio, then, this learned and austere
provincial ordered the humble Catherine to be brought
before him. Being thoroughly impregnated with the strict-
est principles of Catholic theology concerning raptures
and ecstasies — knowing how easily the devil can simulate
true ones for the purpose of instigating their subjects to
pride and self-complacency — he at once began, with stern
countenance and harsh voice, both to interrogate her se-
verely and to heap reproaches on her as though she were
a convicted criminal. He told her that she was disturbing
the monastery by getting up extravagant scenes under
pretence of visions and ecstasies; that she was nothing but
a vain hypocrite, wanting to pose as a saint through con-
temptible means, that she might get credit ; and that even
if she did see anything in her pretended visions, this was
merely a diabolical illusion, wrought by the enemy of her
salvation that he might the more surely drag her to eternal
death. He even accused the poor girl of having made
a compact with the prince of this world and the father of
lies. He went on to add, however, that — no matter how
great her crimes — if she felt touched by repentance and

* Scraf. R.az^i, lib. Ill, cap. iii, p. 107.

AND HER COMMUNITY 71

would promise to give up all these dangerous deceits,
he would undertake to pardon her, to forget the past, and
to give her his protection for the future. If she refused to
submit, she must expect to be put under a ban in the
monastery, and to be separated from her sisters — in short,
to be subjected to whatever severe penalties might be ne-
cessary for the honour of God and the good of her own
soul.

Catherine listened to all this in calm silence; and, when
the provincial had finished, replied gently and modestly.
She said she quite acknowledged herself worthy of severe
chastisement for her own sins ; but that, as to her "trances,"
having no share of her own in bringing them about, having
never sought them, and being indeed subject to them
against her will, she could not promise to abstain from
them even if she wished. She added that, so far from having
intentionally anything to do with the evil one, God was
her witness that, from the time when baptism had given
her to Jesus Christ, she had had no wish at all except to
please and belong to Him, as the spouse of her soul. She
knew well that, in spite of all this, the extraordinary things
that had happened to her might of course be diabolical snares
and delusions, in which case she most earnestly begged of
her Redeemer, by His own tears and groans, to deliver
her from them ; but that if they were in truth heavenly
favours and gifts of His divine munificence, " then, she
was not so entirely destitute of sense and intelligence as
to wish to be deprived of graces which He Himself had
thought well to bestow on her for her soul's salvation."

The saint went on to say, further, that, whilst she be-
sought God to continue and to increase His favours, she
also entreated Him to take away their outward signs, and
everything that could bring her into public notice, seeing
that the gifts of God could not but suffer in the eyes of
the world by appearing in such a wretched and contemp-
tible creature as she was. She declared also that she had in-
cessantly begged the holy souls amongst whom she lived

* Vita Anonima, cap. ix, p. 71.

74 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

to pray for her with this object ; but that in spite of their
fervent and persistent intercession, coupled with the merits
of their angelic lives, she had found her c trances,' up to
the present time, increase rather than diminish.

Such was Catherine's reply ; and it so filled the nuns
(who appear to have been present at the examination) with
wonder at its heavenly wisdom that a report spread through
the monastery that St Thomas Aquinas had come to her
help with his advice, as her special advocate. Nobody,
however, was so well able to appreciate its full purport as
Padre Francesco himself. His mind was, as it were, dazzled
by such an answer, and his heart then and there won over
to Catherine's side. He could absolutely find nothing to
say except a few words of affectionate encouragement; and
was rising as if to conclude the interview without further
delay, when the young saint herself pressed him, in the
most humbly submissive terms, to pronounce a decision.
Either because he did not wish to make a public pro-
nouncement, or because he simply wished to postpone
formal judgement, the provincial tried at first to avoid
a definite answer, and merely said : " Enough upon this
subject! Let there be no further question about it." But
Catherine, contrary to all her usual habits of timidity and
respect, insisted. " Father," she said, " I am a little sheep
of your flock, and you are the shepherd of my soul. Your
duty is to enlighten and direct me, and mine is to obey
you. I ask you to tell me whether I may be at peace in
my conscience ? "

This deference, spontaneously shown by a soul, just re-
turned from heavenly intercourse, to the visible hierarchy
of the Church — this strong and clearly-marked subordina-
tion of private judgement to the verdict of Christ's repre-
sentatives and successors in authority, even whilst that
soul was flooded with supernatural light — caused the man
of God to throw aside at once any hesitation he might
still have left as a theologian, and to give the humble vir-
gin the assurance she desired. " Take courage, my child,"
he said, " and be at peace. There is no delusion in your
state. God Himself is guiding you, and all the things that

AND HER COMMUNITY 73

you see and experience are graces of His divine bounty.
Be humble and obedient. Never fail to reveal whatever
passes within you to your confessor ; and I can safely as-
sure you that not only will you be free from fault, but
that you will be pleasing to God in all your works."

Having thus given his verdict on their reality, the
Father Provincial wished to see, and be edified by, the
actual form of the heavenly graces bestowed on Sister
Catherine, and therefore waited to be present at the next
occurrence of her ecstasy of the Passion. Having witnessed
it, and been deeply moved and astonished by all its touch-
ing details, he — who had come to the convent armed with
intended punishments and energetic measures of repression
— went home, his heart overflowing with divine consola-
tion, and his mind full of joy and wonder at the great
things that God works in His elect. He did not stay at
Florence, but went straight on to Rome to make his re-
port to the general of the Order, who was at that time
Padre Alberto de las Casas, a man of Spanish birth who
became afterwards Legate of the Holy See. He was greatly
struck by hearing such a man as Padre Francesco Romeo,
with his high character and learning, assert such marvels
of " the young saint of Prato," and decided at once to go
there himself — not so much for the sake of subjecting the
facts stated to his own scrutiny, as for that of gaining the
spiritual joy, and profit to his soul, which he thought such
a rare and wonderful sight must cause. He was not dis-
appointed in his expectation. He saw the saint in her great
ecstasy ; and he was so powerfully moved by the vivid
representation of Jesus Christ suffering placed before him
by her whilst going through it, that he could do nothing
the whole time but shed tears of compunction and of love
for his holy Redeemer.* When it was over, he offered
humble thanks to the Lord, and said to those who had
accompanied him that " there was nothing to doubt about
in this soul, but everything to revere." f

After her ecstasy he had an interview with Catherine,
and was charmed by her simplicity and humility: the more

* Sandrini, lib. I, cap. xiv, p. 58. + Ibid. p. 53.

74 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

so, that there was joined to these qualities a graceful play-
fulness of manner that was most lovable. But what he ad-
mired most of all was the holy attractiveness of her con-
versation, which — turning entirely on the things of God —
so insensibly wove its invisible meshes round her listeners
that no soul who heard her could escape being strongly
drawn by sympathy to share her love of our Divine Lord.
" No!" he exclaimed, as he left her, " this is no mere girl
that we have heard — it is a true seraph."*

The appearance of these two chief authorities of the
Order at Prato, coming immediately after each other to give
their sanction to the workings of grace in Sister Catherine,
produced its natural effect within as well as without the
monastery; and the general opinion decided at once in her
favour. Nevertheless, certain individual protests of incre-
dulous views were still to be made, and that for some time
to come, amid the nearly universal faith of admiration.

One great example of these sceptical minds, convinced
in spite of himself, was the immediate successor to Francesco
di Castiglione — Padre Nicolo Michelozzi, the next pro-
vincial. Hardly had he taken in hand the government of
the province than he took advantage of his position to go
and judge for himself of these strange things, so that he
might have the last word on the reported ecstasies of the
wonderful sister. Arriving one Friday at San Vincenzio, he
happened to meet Euphrasia Mascalzoni, a sister extremely
devoted to the saint, and he asked her at once what "Sister
Catherine " was doing at that moment. Euphrasia replied:
" She is in her state of ecstasy, and is sitting with her hand
over her face."

Then the provincial, forming a secret wish in his heart,
said to the young sister:

"Very well! Now do you go into her cell, and there
place yourself on your knees right in front of her, with your
hands beneath your scapular; notice carefully what she does,
and then come and tell me."

The sister obeyed. Hardly had she taken up her posi-
tion in front of Catherine than the latter raised her right

* Ibid.

AND HER COMMUNITY 75

hand, and blessed Euphrasia three times by making three
signs of the Cross on her forehead; then, having taken her
in her arms and kissed her affectionately, she sent her away.
When the sister came and repeated all this to Padre Miche-
lozzi, he was compelled to give immediate homage to the
Spirit of God dwelling within the saint — for she had ex-
actly performed all the actions that he had privately wished
her to do!

But the most wonderful fact recorded, of this kind, is
the conversion from incredulity of the same Sister Euphra-
sia's own sister, Gabriella Mascalzoni. She was also devo-
tedly fond of the saint, and suffered greatly at heart from
feeling unable to believe in her ecstasies. One day Cathe-
rine, meeting Gabriella at the door of a little oratory in the
convent, asked her the time; and when she replied that she
did not know, begged her to go and look at the clock and
bring back word. The saint then went into the Oratory,
began to pray, and fell almost at once into an ecstasy. When
Sister Gabriella came back and found her in this state —
there being no one else present to notice — she fell on her
knees before her holy companion, and fervently entreated
our Lord to have pity on her, and to remove from her heart
the hardness that made her always doubt about these rap-
tures. Then, raising her eyes to Catherine's face, what did
she behold but the Face of Jesus Christ Himself, with the
long hair and the beard belonging to our representations of
Him! Seized with fear, the sister would have fled at the
sight; but the saint — without breaking through her ecstasy
— placed both hands on Euphrasia's shoulders and held her
back, looking straight into her eyes. Then she said: "Who
do you think I am? Jesus, or Catherine?" The poor child,
yet more frightened now, gave a cry that was heard by many
of the community; and all who had heard came hastily run-
ning into the Oratory, whilst Euphrasia felt constrained to
make answer: " Ton are Jesus!" Three times did she have
to give the same reply to the same question asked by the
Estalica; and then an immense joy suddenly flooded her
heart, for she had in that moment gained the absolute cer-
tainty of Catherine's great sanctity and the reality of her

76 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

ecstasies. She afterwards told her companions that never in
her whole life had she beheld any beauty to compare with
the beauty of Christ's Face, as she saw it in the place of
Catherine's.*

Benedict XIV, speaking from that seat which has the
privilege of passing infallible judgements on the actions of
the saints, expresses himself as follows concerning this mar-
vellous phenomenon:

"Jesus Christ, wishing to show how far the union of
thought and will between Himself and Catherine reached,
placed a glorious sign of it on her face, by transforming it
to a living image and perfect likeness of His own Face;
so that those who saw Catherine thought they beheld the
Son of God and the Son of Man." f

The saint herself gave the same interpretation of the
marvel, in her own naive and graceful manner, to her for-
tunate confidante Maddalena Strozzi, who had — and, clearly,
never failed to use — the right of questioning her upon the
innermost secrets of her life. Sister Maddalena having asked
how such a change of countenance as this could possibly be
made, Catherine replied in the beautiful words of St John:
" Do you not know that ' he who dwells in charity dwells
in God, and God in him' ?"

We are told that the most Blessed Virgin herself chose
to add her own high sanction to all these proofs of genuine-
ness, by conferring a singular favour which should serve to
promote the piety of the faithful, not at the time only but
in ages to come. Immediately after the first ecstasy of the
Passion she appeared to Catherine and gave her joy of being
associated with herself in the mystery of the " Compassion"
where she stood at the foot of her Son's cross. She then
taught her to honour the object of their mutual love in the
form which always seems most apt to express the truly great
feelings of the heart — that of a sacred canticle. This pathe-
tic lament, composed entirely of the words of Holy Writ,
is in two parts. In the first part, verses from the Prophets
and Evangelists are put into the mouth of our Divine Re-
deemer Himself, who, in this inspired language, sets forth

* Compendia dMa Vita, etc., cap. vi, p. 32. t Bull of Canonization.

AND HER COMMUNITY 77

the chief circumstances of His Passion in a profoundly
moving way. As one listens to His plaintive and loving
cries, each act of the cruel drama seems to pass before one's
inward sight, so that one can count His bleeding wounds
one by one; whilst the hearer's heart is pierced with tender
compunction, and filled with overwhelming gratitude and
love for a God who has first so loved us.

This part of the Canticle ends with, first, the cry of the
"Good Thief " from the cross — " Remember, O Lord, Thy
servants, when Thou comest into Thy kingdom!" — here
supposed to be addressed to the Saviour of the world by
all the faithful as He is about to die; and then the last words
of the account of His Passion — " And Jesus, with a loud
cry, gave up the ghost."

The second part consists entirely of the reflections which
the recital of this great mystery is supposed to suggest to
the soul — still expressed in that language of Scripture which
can say so much in so few words. It begins with an utte-
rance of gratitude for the mercies of the Lord, followed by
a most pathetic calling to mind of all that we have cost our
meek Deliverer. Then, after a fervent call upon His good-
ness to awake and help us, and an act of especial confidence
in Him under the title of Saviour, the Canticle ends with
a humble prayer to Jesus Christ that the merits of His
Blood may be applied to us.

Our Lady is said to have desired Catherine, when she
revealed this Canticle to her, to spread it through the con-
vent as a form of prayer and contemplation supremely pleas-
ing to our Lord. The venerable confessor, Fra Timoteo,
wrote it out in full at the saint's dictation and submitted it
for the approval of the Order. Padre Francesco di Casti-
glione had then become general, and he was not satisfied with
allowing its use in San Vincenzio. By a circular letter to all
monasteries of the Province he ordered it to be placed
amongst the regular devotions and forms of prayer peculiar
to the Dominicans; and it has remained celebrated amongst
us, under the title Canticle of the Passion, as a monument to
the tender love of our great Dominican saint, Catherine de'

78 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

Ricci, for her crucified Jesus.* It is still the general custom
in our churches to chant it publicly on certain occasions,
and especially on the Fridays in Lent. It never fails to pro-
duce— chanted as it is, in many cases, to a peculiar and ex-
traordinarily pathetic tone — a most deep sense of devotion
in earnest souls.

* Fr Jacobus Echard, De Script. Dominicanis, t. II, p. 181. This " Canticle" of St
Catherine's is to be found, with other special Dominican devotions for the Passion, in a
Latin book of "Little Offices," brought out in Rome in 1884 by Father J. M. Larocca,
called Ojficium Par-vum B.M.^.juxta ritum Sac. Ord.Fr. Pnedicatorum, p. 235.

AND HER COMMUNITY 79

CHAPTER VIII

Mystic espousals of the Saint with Jesus Christ — Jesus gives her the ring
— Her sacred Stigmata — Her crown of thorns — Favours bestowed
on her through a miraculous crucifix.

THUS, then, were Catherine's ecstasies — and especially that
of the Passion — authentically acknowledged as of Divine
origin, and in nowise a delusion. The moment had now
come for her to receive the full accomplishment of God's
promises. Eight years, or thereabouts, had gone by since
Jesus Christ had appeared to her during that bad illness
in her father's house, to tell her of her approaching recovery
and to show her the splendid betrothal-ring with which He
meant one day to espouse her.* This miraculous occurrence
now actually took place ; and the following account of it
is handed down to us, in the graceful words of Serafino
Razzi :

" On the 9th of April, 1 542, being Easter Day, and
the maiden Catherine being in her cell towards early dawn,
our Lord Jesus Christ appeared to her covered with glory,
bearing a brilliantly shining cross on His shoulder, and
a magnificent crown on His head. He had with Him His
glorious Virgin Mother, Mary ; Saint Mary Magdalen ;
Saint Thomas of Aquin ; and another Blessed of the Order.
The saint's little cell became instantly full of dazzling light;
and amidst the light was a multitude of angels gracefully
clad, and ranged in due order, with divers musical instru-
ments in their hands. Beholding such majesty, Catherine
was struck with a great fear; and (having first, notwith-
standing her awe, carried out what obedience prescribed as
to all visions) she prostrated three times in adoration of
Jesus. Then did the most holy Mother of God pray her
Divine Son to be pleased to take Sister Catherine for His
Spouse. He therewith gladly consented; and — whilst the
Blessed Virgin held forth the hand of His humble servant

* See chap, iii, sup. Date c. 1535.

8o ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

— hastened to draw from His own finger a brilliant ring,
which He Himself placed on Catherine's left fore-finger;
and, as He placed it, He said: ' My daughter, receive this
ring as pledge and proof that thou dost now, and ever shalt,
belong to Me.' And when the holy maid longed to tell her
gratitude, but could find no words worthy of such a grace,
then the angels suddenly began to draw from their instru-
ments melody so sweet that her narrow cell seemed all at
once to be Paradise.

"Jesus, after that, earnestly commended to His spouse
the practice of humility, obedience, and all Christian vir-
tues; filled her soul with some of that heavenly joy that is the
portion of His well-beloved ones; and disappeared from
sight, followed by all His train."

The ring given to Catherine was of pure gold, enamelled
with red in symbol of the Blood of the Passion, and with
a magnificent diamond set in the middle. It was said to have
been always visible to her, but not equally so to others. It
became visible, we are told, to different people from time
to time, in different forms, according to the devotion of
each and as God pleased. Sister Maddalena Strozzi saw it
habitually, as a raised red circle round the finger, increasing,
in the shape of a square stone, in the middle. Other sisters
saw it now and then shining like a luminous circle. Others
again, seeing it under one form or another, were at the same
time conscious of a heavenly scent coming from it. Once,
however, the whole community — having put the saint under
obligation to beg the favour of God — saw the ring in its
full real beauty and true form. Then every one of these con-
secrated virgins recognized in the mysterious pledge of be-
trothal a sacred gift, which the Divine Spouse gives, indeed,
to whomsoever He pleases ; but with which He specially
loves to address one to whom He may say, in the joy of His
Heart, Una est columba mea, una estperfecta mea* Soon, both
in the Monastery and in all Tuscany, Catherine was named
with one voice "the Bride of Christ" par excellence.

It is remarkable that at the very same period when our
Lord was bestowing this strangely touching proof of Divine

* Le Lettere, fife., p. 114.

AND HER COMMUNITY 81

condescension — which had been but rarely granted in the
earlier ages of Christianity — on the subject of our present
history, He was also granting the favour of Mystic Espou-
sals to other saints. Saint M. Magdalen de' Pazzi, in Italy;
St Theresa, in Spain ; the Venerable Agnes of Langeac, in
France: all received the marvellous grace somewhere about
this time. It would seem as if, on the threshold of the great
religious upheaval that was to weaken Faith and cool
Charity later in the sixteenth century, God chose to be
specially prodigal of such divine gifts as might strengthen
the love and devotion of pure and generous souls.

But, after this short respite from suffering granted to
her in the joys of her heavenly betrothal, Catherine was
soon drawn back into the more hidden, though not less
glorious, path of her appointed lot. God destined her for
the enormous favour of the Sacred Stigmata, that she might
thereby share the honour as well as the pains of His Pas-
sion; so He appears to have prepared her for this immedi-
ately after her reception of the mystical ring, by a special
and intimate communication, in which He revealed to her
how complete was to be that " baptism of suffering " which
should inflict the pains of death on every part of her body,
and all its anguish on her soul, without taking away her
life.*

The holy maiden's heart was inflamed by this superna-
tural interview with Jesus Christ to more generous thoughts
than ever, which laid firm hold of her. When, five days after
her sacred espousals (being the Friday in Easter week), she
was rapt into her usual ecstasy of the Passion, and reached
the moment of contemplating the Crucifixion, she was seized
with such extraordinarily keen sympathy at the sight that
she offered herself with fervour to her Spouse, to take His
place on the Cross. Instantly, as though she had been fastened
by blow to His gibbet — as though a lance had struck her
full in the breast — she felt pains so sharp and intense that
it seemed to her as if she were dying with Jesus Himself.
Then, her ecstasy over, she appeared with body all emaci-
ated and livid, and face pale as a corpse: "so much so," says

* Sandrini, lib. I, cap. xx, p. 69.

82 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

an historian, " that for a few days afterwards her sisters
hardly knew whether she was alive or dead, and could not
look upon her without shedding tears of pity."* At the same
time she herself, seeing her hands pierced right through, and
feeling her left side opened by a large wound, "ceased not
to thank her divine Spouse for having granted her His
sacred wounds, with all His pains, as a means of meditating
on his sorrowful Passion with a more loving and compas-
sionate heart."f

This new favour of the stigmas also had the whole
monastery as witness, but again with variations. Some of
the sisters beheld the wounds in the hands with awe, even
as the saint herself saw them — open right through and
sometimes bleeding. Others — among whom was Maddalena
Strozzi — saw them several times shining with so brilliant
alight that they had to lower their eyes before it; whilst
to the greater number they appeared under the form of
healed-up wounds, red and swollen, with a black spot in
the centre, round which blood seemed to circulate. It was
thus that the sacred marks were visible to the whole com-
munity in the year following, on April 5, 1543, eve of
St Vincent Ferrer's feast, when Catherine — being in ecstasy
— held her hand outside her scapular, and each of the
sisters in turn kissed it with deep devotion. The same
favour was granted, under like conditions, to many secu-
lars: amongst others to the saint's second mother, the de-
vout Fiammetta, who escaped from Florence at intervals
to come and admire the miracles worked by " her Alessan-
drina," the celebrated spouse of Jesus and the saint of
Prato.

The wounds in the feet, naturally less observable, had a
more restricted number of witnesses. Some of the nuns saw
them, open on both sides and raw; whilst the flesh had the
peculiarity of being swollen on the upper part of the wound
and sunk in on the lower part : a state that could only have
been produced by the impression of our Lord's body,
whose weight had pressed on the nails that fastened His
feet to the cross.

* Sandrini, ibid. f1 Vita Anonima, cap. x, p. 84.

AND HER COMMUNITY 83

As to the wound in the side, the only person who be-
held this during the saint's lifetime was her faithful guard
and companion Maddalena, who had to nurse her charge
from time to time in illness. She stated that this wound
was larger than the others, and that she often saw it all
streaming with light.

All the wounds — incurable as that divine love which
caused them — were accompanied by great and continual
pains; and, by the holy maiden's own confession, the pain
of the wound in her side was so violent that she constantly
felt as if on the point of fainting away, or even of dying,
from it.

Other saints, as we know, have had these wonderful
marks of our Lord's crucifixion imprinted on their bodies,
and have offered themselves as generously as did Catherine
de' Ricci for the sharing of His sufferings and the expia-
tion of sin throughout the world ; but the peculiarity of
her case lies in the fact of her having received the sacred
stigmata in early life, whereas they have usually been given
as the final episode only of a saint's career. To name only two
of the most celebrated instances, St Catherine of Siena re-
ceived this honour five years before her death; whilst St
Francis of Assisi lived but two years— as Dante notices:

Nel crude sasso intra Tevero ed Arno
Da Christo prese 1'ultimo sigillo
Che le sue membra due anni portarno.

— // Taradiso, cant. xi.

— after the day when he found his calvary on that rocky
height between the Tiber and the Arno. Here, however,
we have a maiden of twenty years old mystically transfixed
to the altar of sacrifice, and destined to be a victim in
union with her crucified Spouse for forty-seven years : as
she lived to the age of sixty-seven.

One thing only was now wanting to make our saint a
perfect copy, externally as interiorly, of Christ in His
Passion, namely, the crown of thorns. Sandrini tells of a
vision of our Lady with the Infant Jesus, specially sent —
at the Christmas following her stigmatization — to prepare
her for this fresh honour, by awakening in her a yet more

84 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

ardent desire for suffering, and courage to bear it, than
she had had before. None of her biographers mention the
exact date of her receiving this final exterior mark of the

O

Passion, but all are agreed that she did receive it, and that
it was seen sometimes in the form of actual long thorns
piercing the skull and temples, with blood flowing from
them; whilst at other times only the bleeding wounds — as
if made by thorns just extracted — were seen, encircling the
head in the form of a crown. The lay-sisters of St Vincent's,
who had to cut the nun's hair from time to time, testified
that the marks were never effaced throughout the saint's
life; and the whole community gazed at them with awe as
she lay on her death-bed.

Yet one more symbol of her union with the Crucified
was granted to Catherine, but one never visible except to
the few who nursed her in her illnesses. This was a livid
mark about three fingers wide, which went in a straight
line from the top of her right shoulder, down her back to
the waist; in which those privileged to behold it recognized,
with deep reverence, the impression of the cross, as carried
by our Saviour from the Pretorium to Calvary.*

During the whole of this year, 1 542 — so memorable
in our saint's life, as the period within which she received
most of these marvellous favours at different times — her
heavenly Spouse was pleased both to help her in her mys-
tical sufferings, and to show His own great love for her
and His approval of her heroic virtue, by means of a large
wooden crucifix in her cell, of which the figure was a special
favourite with her and the constant object of her contem-
plation. Our blessed Lord chose, many times, to commu-
nicate with Catherine through this figure of Himself, by
causing it to become animated and to speak to her as in
His own person. Sometimes He made the figure stretch
its arms towards her from the cross on which it hung, and
address her in loving accents in answer to the prayers she

* The Bull of Canonisation thus resumes all St Catherine de' Ricci's supernatural
graces of this kind: "Ipsam in fide et charitate fulgida ornata, ac preciosissimis monili-
bus de thesauris suis decoravit. Ipsius enim latere ac manibus et pedibus sacra Clavorum
suorum et Lanceae stigmata, sanguine rubentia insculpsit, spineum diadema capiti im-
posuit, humeris vero vestigia crucis impressit."

THE SAINT'S MIRACULOUS CRUCIFIX.

AND HER COMMUNITY 85

was pouring forth at its feet. Again, when she lay on her
bed, powerless from illness, the sacred image would smile
at her with unspeakable kindness; whilst at other times it
would eloquently exhort her, as she gazed at it nailed im-
movably to its cross, to patience in every suffering.

But on one, now celebrated, occasion God was pleased
to work an even greater miracle than these by means of
this crucifix. Coming into her cell one morning immediately
after Communion, Catherine heard her name loudly called;
and, looking towards her crucifix, saw the figure detach it-
self suddenly from the cross, bearing away with it the nails
by which it was fastened, and dart through the air towards
her. Instinctively, she stretched out her arms to receive it,
placing one hand under its feet and reverently encircling
it with the other. Then the miraculously animated figure
leant towards the saint, and pressed her with its arms, say-
ing these words in a clear voice : "Beloved spouse, I have
come to seek shelter in your heart, and in the hearts of all
my daughters, against the crimes of sinners which are
weighing Me down. I require you to have three solemn
processions, in expiation of their sins, and to disarm My
justice."

Scarcely had Catherine received the figure in her hands
and heard these words than she was ravished into an ecstasy,
in which she remained — fixed in the same attitude — for a
full hour. Sister Maddalena Strozzi, coming into the cell and
seeing the miracle, was so moved by the beautiful sight that
she fell on her knees before the image of Christ and entreated
our Lord not to awaken His holy spouse from her rapture
until her sisters had had the happiness of beholding the
wonderful scene. All were accordingly fetched; and all —
moved to tears of joy and tenderness — lovingly kissed the
marvellous figure and the fortunate hand that supported it,
inhaling as they did so a delightful fragrance of unearthly
kind.

The Dominican artist, Pere Hyacinthe Besson, made a
drawing of this celebrated occurrence in the saint's life, in
which he represents the Figure — just detached fromits cross
— coming down towards Catherine. He has wonderfully

86 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

caught, in this sketch, the mingling of deep respect which
keeps the maiden on her knees with the fervent impulse
of love which causes her to stretch her arms suddenly to-
wards the Image of her Spouse; but, like many another of
the modern Fra Angelico's works, it has remained only a
sketch: he never had time to paint the picture.

On coming out of her ecstasy, Catherine straightway
sent for the Prior of St Dominic's, and communicated to
him the will of God concerning the three processions re-
quired for gaining His mercy towards sinners. The first
of these took place that very day, which was the 24th of
August — feast of St Bartholomew. The saint, filled with
enthusiastic veneration for the miraculous crucifix, was
burning to carry it herself at the head of the procession; but
her modesty made her fear both that this might make her
too conspicuous, and that it was perhaps wrong to covet an
honour of which others were moreworthy. She confided her
doubts to her mistress, who soon set them at rest by the
decisive remark that the office of cross-bearer in front of a
procession belonged by right to the lay-sisters, and was
therefore one quite consistent with humility. Catherine,
therefore, marched joyfully — crucifix in hand — at the head
of all ; and a fresh marvel appeared as she did so. She was
rapt in ecstasy the whole time of the procession, with eyes
completely shut; and yet — unguided — she traversed all the
main parts of the monastery, through which the procession
was to pass, without a single mistake: going round every
turn or winding — in and out of doors — up and down stair-
cases— with perfect solemnity and exactness, as if she saw
the way with her bodily sight: " Which could not possibly
have happened," wrote the Venerable Fra Timoteo, " if she
had not been invisibly supported by the hands of angels."

The miraculous crucifix, naturally becoming an object
of special veneration, was placed — with the young saint's
consent — in the general convent oratory, so that all the
nuns might come freely to satisfy their devotion at its feet.
But after Catherine's death, when her cell was made into a
sanctuary, the crucifix was restored to its former place: and,
of all the relics now there that bear witness to her virtue

AND HER COMMUNITY 87

and her love of God, none seem to speak of her in more
touching and eloquent language than this one.

This miracle, so publicly manifested, was both preceded
and followed by many divine communications to the holy
maid, some of which were in the form of beautiful visions
of the " imaginative " order, described by some of her bio-
graphers with extreme minuteness: notably by Razzi.* The
great point of interest, however, in all the revelations or ap-
pearances granted to Catherine during this period, is that
most of them were not for her own personal consolation—
or even sanctification — alone; but were intended, whether
by way of direct commands from our Lord Himself, or of
allegorical interpretation of visions, for the good of the
whole community. They were frequently either reprimands
for some defects — such as breaches of silence, or slight
carelessness in saying office, for example — which had to be
remedied; or instructions as to fresh devotions, or as to an
increase of fervour in general monastic virtues. When the
saint received such communications as these, not all her na-
tural timidity and modesty combined could prevent her from
making them known to her sisters : so clear was her duty
as simply the mouth-piece of her and their Lord; whilst
the humble submission with which reproof or instruction,
as the case might be, was heard and acted upon by the com-
munity proves how undoubting was the conviction of Ca-
therine's sanctity and the reality of her intercourse with God,
since the fact of her being one of the very youngest sisters
in the convent clearly did not in any way affect the reve-
rence which all spontaneously paid to her injunctions.

* See chap, xi, vol. I, of Pere Bayonne's " Life."

ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

CHAPTER IX

Catherine's love for her family — Her anxiety about their concerns — Be-
ginning of her correspondence with them (1542)

WE are now to look at Catherine in a different aspect from
that in which we have been considering her through the last
few chapters: namely, in her relations with her own family.
Whilst she had been living, amongst her religious sisters
at Prato, this life of close interior intercourse with God, oc-
cupied exteriorly with all the minutiae of cloister duties, she
was very far from having forgotten the inhabitant of the
Ricci Palace, left behind at Florence. Indeed, the saint's
faithful and tender love for her family — and, as we shall find
later on, for her friends too — is one of her most remarkable
characteristics, lending a charm and humanness to her life
which make it as attractive on the natural as on the super-
natural side. Of this characteristic, happily, there is plenty
of direct proof to lay before the reader, in St Catherine's
own words.

It was, strangely enough, in the very year in which the
wonderful heavenly favours just recorded were vouchsafed
to her that "Sister Catherine" first opened a correspondence
with her family — beginning with some letters to her father
— of which several specimens have been handed down to us;
and which, after her parents' death, she kept up with her
brothers till the later part of her life. It seems as if, from this
time forth, she was no longer satisfied to see them at inter-
vals, when they came to talk to her through the grille at
Prato, but felt impelled to pour forth some of her super-
natural riches for their comfort and instruction, and to ex-
press her keen sympathy with their joys and sorrows, and
their spiritual condition, more frequently and freely than
hitherto.

Now, Pierfrancesco was undoubtedly a firmly believing
Christian; but he was a man of the world, and deeply im-

AND HER COMMUNITY 89

mersed in both his public functions and his own private busi-
ness affairs; consequently, like many another, he was at times
carried away by such things to the danger of his soul. Ca-
therine was only too well aware of this; and, becoming really
uneasy as to her father's salvation, she took advantage ot the
Lenten season in this year 1542 to give expression to her
wishes about him. On March 21 we find her writing to him
as follows :

" Honoured and dearly-loved father, health and hearty
greeting in the Lord !

" I cannot refrain from sending you a few lines, just to
remind you not to put off your confession, now that Holy
Week is close. Imitate our Lord in humility, for without
this we cannot follow Him who said: ' I am the Way, the
Truth, and the Life,' in order that the life and habits of the
Master might be the model of His servants; and also that
we might choose that humility which He taught us when He
said, { Learn of Me, for I am meek and humble of heart.' He
who exalts himself shall be humbled, and he who humbles
himself shall be exalted : shall be made glorious and blessed
in heaven, where Jesus our model invites and expects us,
that we may live there with Him for ever.

" I have received, as usual, your charitable gifts. May
the Lord reward you for them!

" I have nothing more to say except that I have written
to Federigo * as you desired. We send affectionate greet-
ings to you and to our mother, and so do Mother Prior-
ess and the other sisters. May Jesus Christ protect you from
all evil and keep you in His grace!

" Your daughter, Sister Catherine, at San Vincenzio's.

"From Trato, {March 21, 1542."

That Pierfrancesco proved the genuine humility of his
character by taking his holy daughter's exhortation in good
part, and by at once following her advice, is clear from her

* Federigo was Catherine's uncle. The "we "in this letter probably refers to the
saint herself and one of her younger half-sisters, Lucrezia, who later on took the veil at
San Vincenzio's, and must at this time have been in the convent as a pupil. The prior-
ess mentioned here was Sister Raffaella di Faenza.

90 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

next letter, thanking him for some " gifts in kind " that he
had sent to the convent for Easter:

My kind and most honoured father, health and greet-

ing!

" I have received your letter, which was most pleasant
to me; and with it the numerous things for which I greatly
thank you. May the Lord reward you for me; and, above
all, may He fill you with His grace at this holy Paschal
time, paying you back in spiritual gifts the temporal ones
that you bestow upon us! You really do too much for us!
But I am very sure that God will reward you amply, for
even the smallest thing, so long as you do it all for the love
of Him. I entreat you, throughout this Easter season, to
give yourself entirely to God. See how He suffered for us;
and how He did it out of the great love He bears to all
His creatures, so that we may have cause to love Him our-
selves all the more! Therefore, my father, devote yourself
to reflecting on such love as this, and pray for me, that I
too may learn to understand it better. Exhort Giovanni,*
from me, to do the same. Tell him not to approach this great
Sacrament without thought, but to receive It after serious
reflection, and with a firm purpose of avoiding all sin. If
he does this, our Lord will help him. Greetings to my
brother and all of them, and also to you and our mother.
May Jesus Christ keep you in His grace and preserve you
from harm!

" Your daughter, etc., etc.

"From Trato, Jprll 2, 1542."

The following note — which carries us on to more than
a year later in Catherine's life than the last one — needs
some explanation as to the relations of her father with the
convent. As far back as 1538 Pierfrancesco, having been
named by the Grand-Duke " Commissary " at Prato, had
the opportunity of seeing his daughter much more fre-
quently than before, and of getting to know the chief sisters
of the convent much better than he had done. He was so

* One of her own brothers, by the first wife, Caterina di Panzano. He died

in

AND HER COMMUNITY 91

charmed by their conversation that he became devoted to
them, and gave them a place in his affections of such a
really paternal kind that he voluntarily bound himself to
their daily interests by becoming their " Procurator," or
manager of their temporal affairs. When he was specially
wanted at the convent on business, Catherine herself was
generally commissioned to write to him; and thus she had
the opportunity of saying many little things to her father,
of spiritual or temporal interest, on her own account. This
state of things will explain the mingling of a certain degree
of " corporate self-interest " with daughterly anxiety on the
saint's part, when she writes of Pierfrancesco's illness:

" I have received your pleasant letter, and with it your
usual little presents: we will beg our Lord Himself to re-
ward you for them. We are much grieved to hear that you
are ill; and we are offering, and will continue to offer,
prayers, that God may soon restore you to health, and that
you may be able to come here. The mothers are in great
need of you for the business, and the numerous works going
on at the convent. I therefore beg you, when you have re-
covered and can do so without inconvenience, to come with-
out fail.

" Do not forget, my good father, to give yourself to
God and the Blessed Virgin. Love Him with your whole
heart and soul, and desire nothing save to please Him and
do His holy will. I know that He will never fail you in all
your needs. . . . Greet our dear mother for me, and tell
her we are praying for her, and that she must be cheerful,
and give herself completely to Jesus and His most holy
Mother. . . . May the Lord be always with you, and quickly
make you well!

" Your daughter, etc., etc.

"From Trato, July 8, 1543."

We come next to a portion of St Catherine de' Ricci's
family correspondence which is full of pathos as well as of
interest, being once more the old story — though this time
enacted from behind a grille — of a sister standing between
an angry father and an erring brother.

92 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

But a fortnight after the note just quoted, we find the
saint writing to her father in terms that can only be ex-
plained by her having had some supernatural revelation of
serious trouble shortly to befall him, and of which she
seems to be giving him solemn preparatory warning. Here
is her letter (dated July 23):

"My good, honoured, and well-beloved father, health
and innumerable greetings in our dear Jesus! — May He
comfort your heart in all the needs that may arise at any
moment; and may He enlighten you in all your works, so
that you may walk according to His most holy will and
never offend the Divine Majesty. I would make this re-
quest of you, my good father — to wish for nothing but His
good pleasure, and to hold yourself in subjection to His
law and commandments — as, indeed, I hope and believe
you are sure to do. But I want to remind you to persevere
in this, and to make yourself go forward from good to better;
because, if you do this, I am certain that the mercy of God
will never forsake you, as I have often told you. I, your
daughter, shall never cease praying to my Jesus that He
will not desert you, and that you too may never desert
Him, whatever may happen to you. Do, I beseech you, dear-
est Father, give yourself entirely to Jesus, the Lover of our
souls!

" I received your letter a day or two ago, and with it
your many kind gifts. . . .

" Your daughter, etc." *

The misfortune that Catherine evidently foresaw was
not long in coming. At the beginning of September, 1543,
her father wrote to tell her of the bitter sorrow into which
he and the whole family had been plunged by the miscon-
duct of his eldest son, Ridolfo, Catherine's brother. He was
a young man of about twenty, of strong passions, who was
already beginning a career of both private and public error
which was to keep him in disgrace almost throughout his

* The beginnings and endings of all the saint's letters are so much alike, that
in the future only one specimen of each, in the case of each fresh correspondent, will
be given.

AND HER COMMUNITY 93

life, and to be a source of perpetual anxiety to his sister,
whose untiring love and zeal followed him to the end in an
incessant effort to bring him back to a sense of duty. In
answer to the first news of his bad conduct sent to her by
the aggrieved and disconsolate father, she writes as follows:

" I have read your letter, and also that of the poor boy.
May God have as deep mercy for him as the misery into
which He sees him plunged! I am praying — and the whole
community is joining with me in doing the same — that this
soul may not perish. It is perfectly clear that he means to
do what he says; but prayer may disarm the anger of the
Lord. May it please God to give the unhappy boy grace
not to persist in the bad intention that he has now! And
you, most honoured father — recommend him to God, as I
am sure you are doing — and then bear the troubles with

which N * is overwhelming you patiently and in peace.

Remember, my dear father, that our Lord will give you a
great reward for this, and trust entirely to God.

"I have read the letters to our uncle (Fra Timoteo), and
you may be sure that he feels as much pity for you as I do.
Still, things being as they are, we are glad to have had

news of N , so as to be able to help him : which is our

duty, as he is all the more in need of help. I beg you
again not to be more troubled over this than God wills,
but to let reason always keep the upper hand, for the love
of Him from whom you incessantly receive so much good.
If He allows such great sorrows, be sure that it will all
count to you for merit, if you will have patience. . . .

" From Prato, September 5, 1543."

The wording of this letter leaves it somewhat doubt-
ful whether the youth had written himself straight to his
sister, or whether Pierfrancesco had enclosed a letter from
his son for Catherine to read. Also, we cannot be sure,
from the saint's way of expressing herself, exactly what she
means by the " help " which she and her uncle thought it

* Though this letter and the two following ones have the letter N in place of a name,
it is held certain that they both refer to Ridolfo.

94 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

their duty to give to Ridolfo; but it certainly conveys an
impression that they had been affording him some mate-
rial help in a bad " scrape," besides assisting him with their
prayers. However this may be, Sister Catherine apparently
said no more on the subject to her father for some time:
hoping, probably, that the first extreme irritation on both
sides might cool a little if she waited. Whether she at last
offered to intercede for her brother, to get him pardoned,
or whether the culprit himself — penitent for the time —
begged her to do so, does not appear; but, at any rate, she
undertook the office of mediator, two months after this
first offence, with the most ardent love and desire for peace,
as we see from the two following letters: both written on
the same day:

" May the Divine Majesty grant you patience and give
peace to your troubled soul ! May you have light which,
amid all your trials, will enable you, for the love of God
who suffered so much for you, to see what course will be
best for you to take, and may you have grace to pursue it.
I have received a letter from your son, wherein he begs
me to commend him to you and to send you the letter
which he has written to you. Full well do I understand
your displeasure against him and the grave faults which he
has committed; but, father, 1 entreat you to be patient and
discreet, so that your magnanimity may be acknowledged
by all. Your son has indeed acted very wrongly and dis-
obeyed God, and you, his dear father, who have taken so
much pains for him; but nevertheless I beseech you, for
the love of God, to pardon him. If you have cursed him
according to his deserts, restore your blessing to him now
and commend him to God. I would further implore you
to listen to his prayers and to grant him your favour and
help as far as it may be in your power to do so. If you
will act thus I shall indeed be happy, for sons are often
helped in life for their fathers' sake rather than for their
own. Encourage my mother and do your best to preserve
your peace of mind. I would beg of you to send a line
to your son in answer to this letter and to write as kindly as

AND HER COMMUNITY 95

you can; for, since the harm is done, there is nothing to be
gained by making bad worse and driving him to despair.
May Jesus strengthen you as I fervently pray of Him to
do ! May He be with you and guard you from all evil.

" November 15, 1543."

"As N * is returning to you with N , I want

to beg of you for the love of our good Jesus to lay aside
all harshness and undue severity. Although justice may be
on your side and the world may say that you ought to be
firm in asserting your rights, it is my belief that you will
please our Lord Jesus by showing mercy. At the time that
his mother shall deem fitting your son will, I know, ask
your forgiveness; and I implore of you to grant him par-
don when he begs it of you. Tell him the truth gently,
promising to help him if he behave well and threatening
to withdraw your assistance should he misconduct himself.
If you will act thus I think that you will do him a great
deal of good, but as long as he is afraid to approach you
or speak to you, medicine will avail him little. I know how
much he suffers when I tell him that you will not see him.
He fully acknowledges that you are in the right and is very
humble and most anxious to atone, by his future conduct, for
the displeasure he has caused you, and the sooner you will
forgive him the more quickly he will recover from his
illness and be restored by you to health of soul and body.
I have another request to make to you. Will you allow this
son of yours and the others to go to Confession henceforth
to Fra Gabriello Totti, the master of novices at San Marco?
When your son came here he told me that he meant to go
to Confession on his return to you, and I advised him to
leave his former confessor and go to Fra Gabriello. He de-
clined to make this change without your consent; so I beg
you to assign the priest whom I have named as confessor
to all your sons; for, without wishing to asperse any one,
I think he is a good father. It only remains for me to beg
your pardon if I was too free in speaking with N in

* Ridolfo.

96 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

your presence: I did so, not out of disrespect, but from
confidence; so pray forgive me. I have offered you entirely
to Jesus, and I pray for you and for all.
"November 15, 1543."

These two letters, however, did not have the desired
effect. Pierfrancesco remained inflexible. He wrote to his
daughter with redoubled affection for her and her convent,
which he loaded with gifts; but he said not a word about
her appeal for the culprit, whom he did not even conde-
scend to mention. Then poor Catherine, overcome with
grief at seeing her brother ostracized from his father's home,
had recourse to the plan of putting her appeal in a different
form: in that of entreaty for a personal favour to herself.
She wrote as follows, a week after the two unsuccessful com-
munications, having evidently had a bad account of her
father's health in his letter, which gave an excuse for her
writing again :

" I have received from you a letter informing me of
your illness which grieves me. I pray and will pray that
God may, if it so please Him, restore you to health. May
such be His will, for I can desire nothing save His good
pleasure. I have not, as yet, heard that you have made peace
with Ridolfo. This really distresses me, and I do beg of you,
my good father, for the sake of the passion of Jesus and
for the love of the Blessed Virgin, to be pleased to grant
me this favour. I am so grieved that as yet you have not
done so, that my sorrow is making me ill. Therefore, dear
father, I implore you to deliver me from this anxiety and
to forget the past and bury the whole matter in the sacred
wounds of our good Jesus. Speak to your son again. Do
not refuse me, father! If I am truly your daughter and you
really love me as much as you profess, you will grant me
this favour and will deliver me from this distress. I am cer-
tain that you let Ridolfo want for nothing and provide him
with everything; but what good will medicine do him while
he is in such trouble at your refusal to speak to him? I
entreat you soon to let me hear that you have done as I ask

AND HER COMMUNITY 97

you. I thank you with all my heart for your affection : may
the Lord reward you !
"23 November, 1543."

This time, the saint succeeded in softening her father's
severity, as the opening lines of her next letter (not other-
wise interesting) show. " I have had your very welcome
letter," she writes, " and I see that by the grace of Jesus,
you are now quite satisfied and peaceable — as I wished you
should be, for your own happiness."

Thus ended the first spell of trouble over Ridolfo. We
have given Catherine's letters on the subject in this place,
though it is a little ante-dating things to do so, because
they form such an important part of the correspondence
with her father beginning in 1542; which correspondence
was destined to be so short that it seems best to put every-
thing connected with it together, and so finish the subject.

The letter last quoted — whose date is December 1 9, 1 543
— goes on, after expressing the writer's pleasure in hearing
of peace between father and son, to congratulate Pierfran-
cesco, piously, on being appointed to the office of "Maritime
Consul" at Pisa which had just been bestowed on him by
the grand-duke, and which he forthwith took up, and
held until his death shortly afterwards. We can only con-
jecture that he saw, and bade good-bye to, his daughter and
her community before leaving, as we are told nothing about
this; but it is to be hoped that Catherine had at least one
happy interview with her father just then, to console her
for both past and future worrying intercourse: for the hot-
tempered Florentine was to give trouble again to his holy
child, by his implacable disposition when angered, before
the end came. It happened in this wise.

Pierfrancesco de' Ricci, as we know, owned the heredi-
tary family bank in common with his elder brother Federigo
de' Ricci. They managed the business affairs of this property
together, and shared the profits. Now, at a certain squaring
of accounts, the saint's father considered that his own rights
had been seriously infringed upon — went into a violent rage
with his brother — and nursed the most bitter resentment

7

9 8 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

against him. Catherine's grief over such a quarrel may be
imagined, as well as her earnest determination not to rest
till she had done all in her power to heal it. Clearly, she
tried her best to bring about a personal interview between
her father and Federigo at San Vincenzio, probably hoping
that her kindly uncle Fra Timoteo might act as mediator
and bring about a reconciliation between the other two;
and one can picture her disappointment when all her plans
failed by Pierfrancesco's hasty departure and refusal to meet
the offender. She fell again, then, to writing her entreaties,
as she had done in the case of Ridolfo; the two last letters
we have of this correspondence concern the difference be-
tween these brothers: in which the saint clearly thought that
her father had some right on his side as far as the business
matter went, terribly in the wrong as she saw his state of
mind about it to be.

The first of the two letters is taken up entirely with the
quarrel:

" I, Sister Catherine, greet you in the love of Jesus
Christ — longing that in you, my father, this holy charity
should be perfect ; for it is this that keeps us in union
with God, and makes us dear and acceptable to Him, and
which also guides us in all our conduct to our neigh-
bours, whether superiors, equals, or subordinates. Yet,
father, it does not seem to me that, in these holy Easter
days, any signs of such divine charity are to be seen in you.
I am most deeply distressed to find you so ill-disposed as
to have kept away from meeting your dear brothers, so that
you might interchange explanations and make peace with
each other. What greater happiness could you have than to
be with your brothers and your daughter ? We should in-
deed have praised God, if we had seen in you the fruit of
Holy Communion: that Victim of peace whom you received
on Easter morning, and who produces holy charity in hearts
that receive Him with due faith and humility, and unites
them to God and their neighbour. You ought not, then, to
have gone to this Holy Communion until you had been
reconciled to your brother; and he, also, ought not to have

AND HER COMMUNITY 99

put off [reconciliation] till after Easter. But what you did
not do before, I want to beg you to do now, by the mercy
of Christ, who loved us so much that He did not refuse to
humiliate Himself and do penance for our sakes, though we
had so greatly offended Him. Ah! did not He say, when the
Jews crucified Him so unjustly, c Father, forgive my exe-
cutioners, for they know not what they do ' ? I want you to
do the same, even though alhthe right were on your side.
I believe, and am indeed certain, that much of it is so, and
I feel great compassion for you;. but I do not want you to
stop there: I want holy love and holy peace to show forth
in you, as in a true Christian. Do hot refuse what I ask.

" You must not think that because I have exchanged
a few words with N * I have turned against you, con-
trary to all reason. I know him, too, very well, and quite
understand that his disposition is incompatible with yours.
What I am now writing, I should have said [before] vivd
>0££, had I known the terms on which you and he stood;
and I think still as I did formerly, and fee\ very much for
you. But, if I think rightly of your soul, m ^conscience tells
me that I am not wrong in pointing out your proper course
to you. Even if every reason you could urge [for displea-
sure] were a true one, nevertheless you ought to explain
yourself, and come to an agreement, so as to be at peace.
You ought to do this both for the honour of God and for
the sake of a better example to the world and to your own
sons, who will follow the precedents you set and walk in your
footsteps. So, dear father, do not refuse what I ask, for the
good of your soul and your body! If you do this, God will
help you and make you prosper in all your concerns; if you
do otherwise, you will not deserve that He should help you,
but that everything should go from bad to worse. I am sure
you will not fail me in this, but that you understand how
important it is for you to be at peace with N .

" It pains me to worry you with such a long letter, but
I did not know what else to do. I would rather have said
what I am now writing — and should have done so if you had
not gone off in the morning, almost in anger, and without

* Federigo de' Ricci.

ioo ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

saying a word to us. This was a very great trouble to us all.
I only want to beg you — hoping that you will want to please
me — to tell me, in answer to this, when you will do what
I ask, and take a day or two for looking over those accounts
again, so as to put an end to the matter and make peace.
With your permission, I should like to send the Padre, our
uncle, to stay with you and listen to your views, as I know
he wishes nothing but your good. So do not fail to let me
know what you intend: the more quickly you settle it all
the more you will honour God, and the better it will be
for you, in every respect.

" Once again, I beg you to satisfy me by answering
quickly, if you wish God to be with you. I must not for-
get to warn you, in certain states of anger or violence, not
to let words escape you that might trouble or offend your
neighbour, as you can judge that they would displease you
if said by anyone whatever; for by thus offending your
neighbour, you would offend God, and might do yourself
great harm.

"From Prato, April 16, 1544."

If this intense anxiety for both soul and body on the
part of his daughter — even whilst she believed him in the
right as to the grounds of complaint — gives a painfully
vivid picture of what Pierfrancesco's temper must have been
when strongly roused, an equally clear impression of the
humility and faith that lay at the bottom of his passionate
character is surely conveyed by her next letter to him, as
well as a most touching proof of the deep love and confi-
dence that must have existed between the two, to make
such plain-speaking on her part and such ready acceptance
on his, possible.

A week after the above earnest appeal the saint writes
again thus :

"I am writing, my dearest father, in answer to your
most welcome letter informing me that you have asked
pardon from your heart. I could never tell you what joy
this news has given me: it makes me happy on account
both of your soul which I love dearly, and also of your

AND HER COMMUNITY 101

bodily welfare. I thank you for having sent me such joyful
intelligence, the best indeed that I could possibly have re-
ceived. Blessed be God who never forsakes, but rather
lovingly assists, all them that trust in Him ! As, by your
letter, you have gladdened my heart, I likewise will send
you some happy tidings. Know then that yesterday your
dear daughter Lessandra, together with the others, was
accepted by the sisters assembled in chapter. She obtained
a large number of votes. Do you thank God then together
with me for the many blessings which, despite our ingrati-
tude, He never ceases to pour down upon us. May He
also reward you for the charity and affection that you un-
failingly show me. Nothing further occurs to me to say
except to commend myself to you and to my mother, pray-
ing God to enrich you with His grace. I should be very
grateful if you would send me the dates of my birth and of
my baptism. I know that they occurred during this month.
The reverend Father Provincial received your and our
Sandrina and offered her at the altar together with the others.
" April 24, 1544."

Was Catherine's extreme desire to see her father spiri-
tually at rest as quickly as possible in any way inspired by
some private foreknowledge ? It may be so, for the end of
Pierfrancesco's life was very near when she wrote the above
letter : the last we have of this correspondence. He died in
September, 1544, having held his office at Pisa but ten
months. Whether he and his saintly daughter met again
upon earth we are not told.

We must now go back a little in time, to show by one
or two other letters of this period the sort of separate inter-
course that Sister Catherine was holding with her step-
mother, whilst she was communicating on these thorny
subjects with her father. Fiammetta — mother of seven
children of her own, in addition to the step-children whom
she had so completely taken to her heart — was a woman
of many cares as well as of very warm affections; and she
had no more keen sympathizer in all concerns than the step-
daughter whom she had so generously helped to the desire

ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

of her heart in former days. Just at the end of 1542,
Fiammetta was in great anxiety about her own boy,
Vincenzio, who was dangerously ill; and the saint writes
thus about it :

" My honoured and dearest mother, — Your troubles are
mine, and I feel most deeply for your grief and anxiety on
account of your little Vincenzio. I have begged Mother
Prioress to make a vow with me, to him who, by the will
of God, cured me, that if he will restore him to health be-
tween this time and the Purification of the Blessed Virgin,
our uncle the Father shall say a mass in his honour, to
which you shall send Vincenzio, wearing the habit of our
order to show that it is our holy Father who has granted
him the favour of health. I will not fail to commend him
to my Lord in the manner and with the love that you
desire : I have never forgotten to do so since I heard of his
illness. But my dearest mother and my honoured father
must be resigned to the will of their Creator, who allows
us to suffer so many tribulations that we may not be at-
tached to this world and may have reason to acknowledge
our good God. I know that you love Him and confess
Him and are wholly His; but He by means of trial would
make you belong still more perfectly to Him. How clearly
does not this very trouble prove to you that Jesus loves
us and promises us all happiness in order that in the furnace
of affliction we may become pure gold ! Let us then, dearest
mother, accept our sufferings willingly from the hands of
such a Benefactor. I send you a little relic : put it on
Vincenzio with prayer and faith, but do not let him lose
it, for it is valuable. Keep up your heart, dear mother, and
be of good cheer, for thus would Jesus have you be. Com-
mend me to our father : may he be willing to endure with
patience ! Jesus be with you ever.

"Your daughter,

" SISTER CATHERINE.

" December 30, 1542."*

* This child died; but a boy born afterwards was also named "Vincenzio," and is
he one whom we shall find referred to later on as having married a certain "Cassandra."

AND HER COMMUNITY 103

The next letter from Catherine to her step-mother is
interesting as a picture, not of family life only, but of the
" educational " customs of the period. The girl-members
of the many large Italian families were usually brought up
within the cloister walls; and their parents sent them, by
preference, to convents where an aunt or an elder sister
was amongst the nuns and would be likely to give special
motherly care to her young relations. Moreover, besides
ensuring the immediate comfort and welfare of their child-
ren, the parents often found help towards the future "esta-
blishment " of their numerous daughters in adopting this
plan ; for, attracted by the ties of blood as well as by those
of religion, and treated almost as affectionately as they would
have been at home, the pupils very often became postulants
for the novitiate at an extremely early age. If accepted, they
were then — with the parents' consent — placed immediately
under a system of education specially adapted for the Re-
ligious state, and lived in this manner till such time as they
were old enough to receive the habit, which was never given
till they were thirteen or fourteen years old.

St Catherine de' Ricci fulfilled this office of "elder sister
or aunt " of the cloister, most thoroughly, towards her four
half-sisters, who were in turn sent to be under her care from
their earliest years. The first, Lucrezia, was clothed there in
1 543, taking the name of Maria Eenigna — under which title
her aunt often speaks of her in family letters. Two others
were accepted as postulants early in the next year, both of
whom were professed in due time ; and it is apropos of their
acceptance that we have the following letter from the saint,
showing equally her own joy at having her young sisters
received by her own community, and her anxiety not to
wound their mother's susceptibilities:

" I have done something which, such was my confidence
in my dear mother, I believed that I might do without in-
curring her displeasure. I have, without your knowledge,
procured the admission of Marietta and of Lena. The idea
occurred to me and I felt sure that such was the will of God.
I said to myself: I know that my mother will be satisfied

104 $T CATHERINE DE' RICCI

with what I am going to do; and then I asked the mothers
of the convent about it, and they willingly complied with
my desire this evening, feast of St Vincent, martyr. Both
my sisters had a large number of votes and I am very happy
that they are here with us. Thank our Lord that He has
allowed them to be received into the dwelling of so many
of His handmaids. Do not, I beg of you, be anxious about
them, but give them gladly to Jesus, who wills to have them.
You can send for them whenever you like, either now or
when you go to Pisa. This is left to you, but you must not
send them anywhere else for this is their abode. My sisters
are more happy than I can say, and you likewise must be
contented and happy that Jesus has chosen them for Him-
self and called them from the folly and vanity of the world.
Oh, what great mercy has He shown to them! Even if your
feelings rebel, it will suffice if your reason remains firm, and
I think^that such with you will be the case. For the love of
God, and for my sake, you will take this step willingly and
you will forgive me if I have presumed too far. I have no
more to say save to commend myself to you, in conjunc-
tion with your daughter Sister Maria Benigna who is as
happy in her vocation as she can be. She desires to be re-
membered to her sisters, and we both send our love to them
and commend ourselves to our father and to the others.
Mother Prioress and the other sisters send you greeting.
May God keep you ever in His grace!
"January 22, 1543."

The reception of Fiammetta's fourth daughter, " Les-
sandra " — Catherine's own namesake — has been described
above, in one of the saint's letters to Pierfrancesco, who thus
had the satisfaction of seeing all the remaining girls of his
second family (one, if not more, had died before this time)
safely placed under their eldest sister's care.

About a month after her father's death, Catherine had
the grief of losing her brother Giovanni — the one to whom
she sent a message about his spiritual concerns in the Lent
of 1 542. Though only her step-son, Giovanni seems to have
had as deep a place in Fiammetta's heart as if he had been

AND HER COMMUNITY 105

her own, judging from the tone in which the saint sponta-
neously writes her sympathy over their mutual loss:

" I learn from your letter that it has pleased God to call
to Himself the soul of my dearest brother Giovanni. This
news cuts me to the heart because I loved him, but reason
bids me be patient and endure all that God does or allows,
because it is willed by Him without whose good pleasure
not a leaf moves upon a tree. I entreat of you, my dear
mother, to have patience likewise, and to commit yourself
wholly to our Lord, remembering that whatsoever He does
is for His glory and for our welfare and that He knows and
sees far better than we. We, as far as we are able, will as-
sist you with our prayers, imploring the Almighty to give
you grace to endure your heavy trial. I do most truly sym-
pathize with you and bear you ever in mind, and pray for
you continually as my duty obliges me to do. It boots little
to commend myself to you, seeing that you are ever in my
thoughts. I would fain hear some details as to my brother's
end: whether he was willing to depart, and whether he re-
ceived the holy Sacraments. Will you then inform me about
the matter, and also tell me where Ridolfo is and what he
is doing? The Father our uncle sends you many remem-
brances: I believe that he is writing to you. I have given
the news to Sister Maria Benigna: I have told her that you
are not grieving more than you can help, and have bidden
her assist you with her prayers. She begs to be remembered
to you and so does Sister Maddalena who often prays for
you. She feels for you very much, and makes our troubles
her own. Nothing further remains for me to say except
to commend myself to you. Let me know if there be any-
thing that I can do for you; I will serve you in any pos-
sible way. The whole convent is praying for you. May the
Lord keep you ever in His grace: remember me to all,
especially to Giovambatista, and tell him that I think of
him and bid him be good.

" October 16, 1544."

It may probably be safely conjectured that part of Cathe-
rine's intense sympathy with her step-mother, in this loss,

io6 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

was called forth by her pity for the recent widow as well
as for the bereaved mother: the latter sentences of the
letter seem certainly to point to this. No other letters on
the subject of Pierfrancesco's death are given in any of the
collections.

Poor Fiammetta's troubles came thick upon her; for in
the same year in which she had lost her husband and step-
son by death, she had next to lose the eldest — and appa-
rently the favourite — of her own sons by another way. The
" Giovambatista " referred to in the above letter shortly
afterwards announced his intention of becoming a Domi-
nican friar at San Marco. How very keenly, notwithstand-
ing her real holiness, the poor mother in her loneliness felt
this blow, was fully realized and understood by Catherine;
and in the two last letters that we give of this correspon-
dence she seems to put forth all her powers of tender per-
suasion and sympathy, as well as of heavenly exhortation,
with the object of comforting and supporting the stricken
widow in this final and evidently unexpected bereavement.

The first letter is written immediately on receiving the
news:

" Dearest and honoured mother, health and consolation
in the Lord, — I do not doubt, from what I hear, that your
son and my dearest brother, Giovambatista, will leave you
and go into holy Religion. Sweetest mother, do me the
pleasure to mitigate your grief, by thinking to whom he is
going, while leaving you, his beloved mother. Consider that
it is to none other than to his and our God, the Creator of
heaven and earth. He is going into Religion to serve his
most sacred Majesty with more security, with greater faith
and stability; for you know what the world is for the young!
If it be for your loss, as regards temporal necessities, which
I know cause you some suffering, I am sorry for you. As
regards higher reasons, I know that you have some cause,
not having the Padre our uncle nor myself with you, but
you must reflect that his only motive is the call from God.
You must console yourself my dear mother, that it is the
will of that God who gave him to you; for He might have

AND HER COMMUNITY 107

taken him some other way, with much more bitterness to
you than the way he is being taken now. For you will be
able to see him sometimes, and with untold satisfaction, in
good health, as we may hope. Above all, if you feel troubled
in a case of so much importance, keep firm and constant in
the will of God, and commend yourself to Him who is the
true Consoler of afflicted souls, as I know yours is, my
dearest and most beloved mother in Christ Jesus. May He
bless that heart which is His own, and relieve it of all its
sorrow, and keep it calm in Himself and His will. Come
and see us as soon as you can with the little sisters whom
I desire greatly to see, if that be pleasing to God and His
most holy Mother. Now be as little melancholy as you can,
and we will not fail to pray for you and for all the others
at home. Sister Maria Benigna does the same, and com-
mends herself to you. May Jesus be ever in the midst of
your heart, and inflame it with His holy love, which is the
highest I can desire for you.
" December 30, 1544."

Giovambatista entered San Marco on February 24, 1545;
and Fiammetta evidently poured forth all her grief at the
parting and her anxiety about her beloved son's own
health under the rigours of Dominican rule in a letter to
her unfailing refuge in trouble; for Catherine writes thus
early in March:

" Honoured and dearest mother, health and greeting in
Christ Jesus, — I have received your letter, by which I see
how grieved you are at parting from your dear son. And,
my dear mother, I believe you, indeed I am certain of it
and have very great sympathy with you, more than I can
tell you. But being the work of our Lord, who is the high-
est Wisdom, console yourself, dear mother, and do not
make yourself unhappy; or rather I should say, as little as
you can, placing yourself entirely in the will of our Lord,
as I am sure you have already done and will do. And so I
pray you do not grieve any more for him, lest you make
yourself ill, which I should not like, indeed I should be

io8 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

displeased on account of the other children. And do not
fear, dear mother, that Religion can do him any harm, as
you say in your letter; and think that He who has called
him to Himself in holy Religion will preserve and keep
him always, and will not let him come to harm in those
things which seem to us might be bad for him. Besides that,
I can tell you that the fathers will take diligent care, and
not let him want for anything, for they know very well
what his strength is. Believe that they will use discretion,
especially on this head; I also have commended him to
them, and I know that they will do it, because they love
him. So you must be happy and thank God that He has
given such great grace to your son as to call him into
Religion, which is a holy and perfect state. Therefore be
of good heart, for our Lord will not forsake him, having
taken him for His own, and given Him such a holy voca-
tion. I will say no more, except to commend myself to you,
and to all. Mother Prioress and the others do the same.
May our Lord be always with you.
« March i, 154(5)-"

AND HER COMMUNITY 109

CHAPTER X

Catherine's demeanour during her Ecstasies of the Passion — How the fame
and proofs of them spread beyond the convent — People attracted by
them to Prato from the court — The saint's personal virtues, penances,
and humility in the midst of her fame — The pope's commissioners
pronounce in her favour

WHILST CATHERINE was thus carrying on her simple,
womanly intercourse with her family, the supernatural
wonders of her daily life — and especially those connected
' with her marvellous ecstasy — were constantly rather increas-
ing than diminishing. Her fellow-nuns, never tired of the
wondrous sight, and moreover — like the " daughters of
Jerusalem " — longing to show their sympathy by mourn-
ing, now with the saint herself, and now with the Saviour
of whom she became such a perfect likeness at these times,
made a practise of regularly relieving each other during the
weekly twenty-eight hours for which the ecstasy lasted, so
that she was never left alone.

Catherine's demeanour in these states was not only
wonderful in itself, but was so wonderfully varied as to
form a constantly fresh attraction to the onlookers. Her
utterances, especially — which seem to have been almost
continuous during her ecstasies — changed perpetually.
Sometimes she would recite sacred Canticles, or Psalms of
David that made plaintive echoes to the particular phase
of the Passion that she might be going through — such as
Psalm cxviii, Sea ft immaculati in >/'«, etc., corresponding
to the long torture of the scourging; or Psalm xxi, Deus,
Deus meus, respice in me^ etc., full of the agonies of the
crucifixion. She appeared to hear these words fall from the
very lips of Jesus Christ Himself; and when she repeated
them with His own majestic accent, and rendings of soul
and voice, it was impossible to listen without deep emo-
tion and religious awe.

At other times the saint's utterances would consist of

no ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

colloquies, or burning discourses on the Sacred Victim —
on His sufferings — on the ingratitude of sinners — or on
her own sins, whose malice she never ceased to deplore,
and whose consequences she believed would be fatal to the
whole human race. Again, she would sometimes pour forth
the most earnest exhortations to her nuns, to incite them
to the love of God.

Some of these words, taken from the convent MSS.,
are given in full by Razzi, and may here be fitly quoted as
an example of what the sisters, reverently following the
great weekly ecstasy, were accustomed to listen to.

One Friday, towards half-past eleven, contemplating
our Saviour carrying His cross up the steep heights of
Calvary, she was heard to cry aloud:

" Oh, my divine Spouse, in what a state Thou art!
Thy poor shoulders — they cannot go on bearing such a
weight! Ah! if I am ready to fall at only the sight of it,
what must it be to Thee, who art so tender and delicate!
Who could ever imagine the state Thou art in, O my
Jesus? Eternal Father, is that indeed Thy Son? Ungrate-
ful, ungrateful sinners, acknowledge such love! I recom-
mend them to Thee, my divine Spouse. Oh, let them reap
the merit of the sufferings that Thou art this moment en-
during for them, and for me who am the cause of all the
evil that is being done in the world! O God, in what days
I have to live! — alas, alas! — Thy honour is no longer de-
sired: no one thinks of Thy glory: none are anxious to
serve and love Thee! I beseech Thee, O Lord, change the
nature of souls a little, and give the spirit of uprightness
and fervour. I recommend to Thy mercy the holy Church,
and the city of Florence, which is Thy Mother Mary's
daughter; also all our benefactors, all Religious, and all my
beloved sisters here.

" But — what do I see, O my Spouse? — savage dogs are
setting upon Thee! Ah, how pitilessly they are dragging
Thee down when Thy strength is so exhausted that it will
not let Thee go on! Cruel — cruel ! "

After other exclamations of the same kind she came to
the moment when Jesus, crushed down by the weight of

AND HER COMMUNITY in

His cross, meets His Mother coming round the mountain.
She gave a heart-rending cry.

"Poor Mother! how could she endure such grief? If
only our nuns were there to keep her company and
strengthen her in her anguish!"

Then, after remaining in profound silence for a time,
she thanked our Lord for all the blessings she had received
from Him, and begged for fresh favours, particularly
entreating Him graciously to address some words with
His own lips to her dear sisters in Religion. And behold,
after a few moments' pause, Jesus — making Catherine His
mouthpiece — spoke thus to her companions:

" How long, my dear daughters, will you go on so
negligently? When will you determine, once for all, to give
your hearts perfectly to Me — to come and hide yourselves
in this Wound in My side — and find pure joy and lasting
happiness there? You say that to receive My gifts and
graces the soul must be rightly disposed for them — and
you speak truly. You say, again, that this disposition of
soul is given by Me, and you are right. But, none the less,
if you would obtain it you must have great zeal, and use
your own efforts. Therefore, if you would have My grace
and My gifts to take possession of your hearts, tear from
them all earthly affections: remember that the things of this
world pass quickly away, never to return; whilst I shall
never be wanting to My faithful spouses! Practise holy
humility; be grateful for the favours of God; obey your
superiors; keep peace and mutual love amongst yourselves;
and profit by the words of My well-beloved spouse Cathe-
rine, in whom I show you a living image of the sorrowful
mysteries of My own Passion."*

But it was not for the convent sisters only that this
spectacle was destined: Jesus Christ intended it to be the
means of reviving faith beyond the cloister walls, and of
arousing a more Christian spirit amid the populations of
Tuscany and a large portion of Italy. Rumour had already
been everywhere busy with the marvels concerning " the
Saint of Prato." The wonderful phenomenon of her ecstasy,

* Seraf. Razzi, lib. II, cap. xvii, p. 91.

ii2 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

the veneration that she had inspired in her community,
and the severe scrutiny to which the superiors of the Order
had subjected her, were all reported and talked about, and
to these reports was soon added the gift of miracles.

Four miracles, happening within a short time of each
other, are related of the year 1542. The two first were
physical miracles — one, the restoration, and subsequent in-
crease, of a quantity of corn belonging to the nuns, which
had gone quite bad in the granary, by the saint's walking
over it bare-footed; the other, the miraculous extinguish-
ing of a bad fire which broke out suddenly in the convent,
by her making the sign of the cross over the flames.

Shortly after this last event, a strange and sad occur-
rence, of spiritual kind, showed forth strongly both the
hatred of Satan for Sister Catherine and the wonderful
power of her intercession for even the most desperately
hopeless souls. A certain young lady — member of some
great family, but whose name is not given — had let her-
self get into the power of the evil one; and he made her
the instrument of a violent assault on the saint's credit, by
inciting her to join the community of San Vincenzio, and
there endowing her with diabolical powers which caused
her for some time to appear as a rival in holiness to Cathe-
rine. To make her like the latter, he caused her, from the
beginning of her career in the convent, to go through
many and serious states of illness, which she bore with
extraordinary patience — so much so that the sisters, know-
ing nothing of the spirit that guided her, were full of ad-
miration and revered her as an actual prodigy of penance.
Then, to complete the apparent similarity between her and
the true Spouse of Christ, the devil made her keep her cell
from Thursdays at mid-day till Friday evenings, so as to
bring about the idea that she also had her ecstasy of the
Passion. But this proceeding began before long to raise
serious doubts in the minds of the Father Confessor and
the " elders " of the convent, especially as this sister prac-
tised most mysterious reserve about herself towards every-
one— never opening her conscience to either her superiors
or her spiritual father, for advice or direction. Before long,

St Catherine discovered the enemy's ruse; and, in concert
with the very holiest souls in the convent, began to pray
earnestly for the defeat of all his projects. Then the devil,
seeing clearly that he was unmasked, and fearing to see his
prey snatched from him, made one final attempt at the
damnation of this wretched girl, by insinuating the hor-
rible suggestion that she should tread the cross of her Re-
deemer under foot. She consented; and, the crime accom-
plished, Satan was on the point of completing his work by
dragging his victim — the measure of whose iniquity seemed
now full — away with him to eternal flames. The victory,
however, was not to be his, close as it seemed.

Catherine had been supernaturally warned of the poor
soul's danger by her guardian angel, and went in haste to
the sister's cell. She got in, in spite of actual resistance
from the evil spirit; and, taking firm possession of the
miserable, hardened creature, never left her till she had
fully opened her eyes to her crime and her awful peril, and
had further inspired her with absolute confidence in the
infinite mercy of our Lord. She made a general confession
of her life, with every sign of deep repentance; and had the
happiness of dying a few days after she had been recon-
ciled to her God, with the assurance of eternal salvation, as
was revealed to the saint.

The last of the four wonders worked by Catherine at
this time was as follows:

On September 17, 1542, a notorious thief was con-
demned to death in the town of Prato. The unfortunate
man, who had not expected a capital sentence, gave him-
self up to despair; and sullenly rejected every attempt
made to console or sympathize with him. The members of
the Misericorde confraternity — " brothers of a good death,"
as they were called in the middle ages, — part of whose work
was to prepare criminals for a Christian end, appealed to St
Catherine to beg the grace of conversion for him from
God. Moved by the thought of his danger, Catherine began
to pray for the poor soul; and she did this so efficaciously
that the wretched man was quite miraculously transformed.
He became so gentle and humble in view of his death, says

8

n4 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

Razzi, that he prepared himself for it with the greatest
devotion. He accepted it as the punishment and expiation
of all his crimes, and a means of showing his love for his
divine Saviour, who had voluntarily submitted to the shame
of just such a death, though innocent and free from all sin.*
The occurrence is referred to by Sister Maddalena Strozzi
in words that clearly bring out the sympathy felt, in those
monastic institutions often abused by the world as heart-
lessly " egoistic," for the outcasts of society who have none
but God and His special servants to care for them:

" This morning," she writes, " when I heard the bell
that announced the death of that unhappy man, I ex-
horted Catherine to pray for his soul. 1 1 have been doing
so ever since morning,' she answered, ' and will go on
doing it.' Then, I having asked her whether she had good
hope of his salvation, she replied 'Yes '; and for a whole
hour — that is, for the whole time that the proceedings of
the execution lasted — she remained in prayer for him, com-
pletely absorbed in God — as, indeed, she had been the
whole morning."

Accounts of these miracles getting wind in Florence,
and adding to the credit that already attached to Sister
Catherine's name, she became more and more the theme
of conversation in " society " there. Prato was the place of
villegiatura for the greatest Florentine families; the saint
herself was daughter of an illustrious house; and it was
well known that Pierfrancesco de' Ricci, her father, was
thought no little of at the court of Cosmo de' Medici —
all of which facts increased the interest felt about her by
the inhabitants of the capital, which interest received its
final touch by means of a miracle that occurred actually in
their midst, through her intercession. This was the re-
covery from a hopeless illness of Maria Gualterotti, wife
of Filippo Salviati, a cousin of the Grand Duke's. An aunt
of Salviati's — Maria Guicciardini by name — advised him,
when all human means had failed, and he was in despair of
her life, to write and beg the prayers of Sister Catherine at
Prato. He did this — also sending " an alms of ten crowns "

* Seraf. Razzi, lib. II, cap. xiv, p. 83.

AND HER COMMUNITY 115

to the convent — in a letter to Fra Timoteo de' Ricci, not
liking to address Catherine herself, as a stranger. He had
no sooner dispatched the letter than a marvellous thing
happened to his sick wife. He had to disturb her from an
apparently unconscious state to give her a little food; and
she — appearing to wake suddenly as if from sleep — spoke,
and complained that he had taken her away from one of
the most delightful pleasures she had ever enjoyed! She
then declared that she had been transported in spirit to
Prato, where she had been in Sister Catherine's company,
and been overwhelmed with tenderness and with spiritual
consolation. It appeared afterwards that before she had re-
ceived Salviati's letter the saint had known all about his
wife; and that when Fra Timoteo brought her the request
for prayers she not only told him that the lady would
recover, but prophesied that she would have a child who
was destined to become a nun in San Vincenzio — a pro-
phecy that was eventually realized.

The story of this miracle is told by Razzi; and he
further adds that, when her recovery was complete, Salvi-
ati's wife went to Prato to thank Sister Catherine, and re-
cognized her at once amongst a number of sisters who came
together to receive the visitor, though they had before her
illness been entirely unknown to each other.

After this wonderful occurrence, the enthusiasm of the
Florentine great people for their holy young fellow-citizen
seems to have culminated in a kind of general " rush " to
Prato, to make her personal acquaintance, or at least to hear
more of the marvellous ecstasy which had been so much
talked of, from her fellow-nuns. The movement was in-
augurated by Cosmo de' Medici's mother, Maria Salviati,
who was aunt to Filippo, and therefore specially touched
by his wife's miraculous cure. The circumstances of her
first sight of the saint are peculiarly interesting, as proving
the coolness of head with which even these enthusiastic
Italians chose to test the truth of popular reports as to the
supernatural.

Maria came to Prato at the beginning of November,
1543 — which was only a few days after the miracle in

n6 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

Florence — and happened to reach the monastery on a Fri-
day, when Catherine was in the midst of her usual ecstasy.
The princess was a prudent woman of enlightened mind
and great common-sense. Resisting the strong instantaneous
attraction, which the mere sight of the young saint was
wont to exercise over those who beheld her for the first
time, Maria Salviati placed herself calmly in front of her,
carefully examining her attitude and gestures — touching
her with her own hands — gazing fixedly at her face, and at
the varying expressions of countenance — and, in short,
studying her condition in every possible way, so as to be
personally convinced before believing. Her study, however,
did not last very long: touched interiorly by the Holy
Spirit with a grace that made her suddenly a better woman,
and drew her wholly towards God, she soon gave her-
self up completely to the inexpressible charm of the saint's
presence. She remained on the spot for a long time, deep
in contemplation, shedding tears of love and compunction;
and then declared over and over again that " it would be
impossible to witness a holier or a more wonderful sight
on earth." * She left the convent so overwhelmingly con-
vinced of Catherine's high degree of sanctity that she could
not help saying to the venerable nuns who escorted her on
departure in honour of her high rank: "O sisters! make
the most of the heavenly treasure you possess, and take
great care of everything that such a holy creature uses; for
a time will come when the least thing she has touched will
work miracles !"f

On returning to Florence, Maria Salviati not only filled
the court with minute reports of what she had seen and felt
convinced of, but showed the reality of her impressions by
the effect that they produced on her life. It was universally
noticed that she had brought with her from Prato a soul
far more detached than before from the things of earth,
more absorbed in God, and ever rising higher towards Him
by a more active and fervent piety than she had formerly
shown. This holy influence was destined never to be weak-

* Sandrini, lib- I, cap. xxix, p. 92. t Seraf, Razzi, lib. II, cap. xii, p. 77.

AND HER COMMUNITY 117

ened, for she died about a month after her return, with all
her heavenly ardour undiminished.

For some time yet, however, the " pious pilgrimages "
to Prato and the firm belief in Catherine's wonderful states
were confined to the ladies of the court: the men — even
though full of respect and veneration for the deceased prin-
cess and her convictions — refused to give in their adhesion
at once, and appear to have held back all the more coldly
when they saw the women so deeply and enthusiastically
impressed. One woman — the wife of the Grand Duke,
Eleonora of Toledo — was at first a little inclined to halt
between the two views, and not to follow the rest of her
sex lest she should be looked down upon; but at last she
too determined to see for herself, and in the March of
1544 she went to Prato, taking in her suite, besides her
ladies, some of the court gentlemen. She was at first
admitted to the convent with only some maids of honour,
and brought into the room where the saint was in ecstasy.
She began gazing at her with the keenest curiosity; and,
noticing her immobility, tried to rouse her from it by
taking hold of her arms and neck and attempting with all
her strength to drag her towards her. But the uselessness
of her efforts soon showed Eleonora that she was strug-
gling with a divine phenomenon. Moreover, she became
overpowered by a religious feeling which mastered her,
little by little, in spite of herself; and at last she, in turn,
remained immovable in the presence of the holy sister,
rapt in admiration and filled with tender love for our Lord.
By and by she turned to her maids of honour — no less
moved than herself — and said: "When we see, we must
believe. If we were to tell my Lord the Duke what we
have seen and felt in our hearts, he would say that it is all
nothing but mere emotion and women's piety, not worth
crediting: and yet we have these wonders before our eyes
and can touch them with our own hands!" Thereupon,
feeling that at all costs she must take back some incontro-
vertible testimony to court, she entreated the prioress, for
the honour of God and of Catherine His spouse, to let

* Vita Anon., cap. viii, p. 48.

n8 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

the court gentlemen whom she had brought in her train
be admitted to the convent. Strict enclosure not being
canonically enforced in houses of the Third Order, the
prioress — having first consulted two Father Superiors —
consented. The doors were then opened to three of the
duchess's train — to Mgr Dom Pedro de Toledo, her own
cousin and Bishop of Forli; to Dom Angelo Marsi, director
of the Hospital of Santa Maria Novella; and to Signer Baccio
Lanfredini, her excellence's major-domo. Ushered into
Sister Catherine's presence, these illustrious personages
were instantly affected in the same way that their mistress,
and the duke's mother before her, had been; and there
they remained for some time, chained to the spot by some
indescribable splendour in the saint's face, and overmastered
by feelings of sudden contrition for their sins and of irre-
sistible love and tenderness. When they left, Dom Angelo
Marsi said to the nuns that " God had given them in
Catherine perhaps the most brilliant mirror of sanctity
that was at the moment existing in the whole of Christen-
dom." The Bishop of Forli — as a true Spaniard — after
speaking of the interior grace he had just received, de-
clared that "if he were half-way between St James's in
Galicia and San Vincenzio's convent, he would make a
second pilgrimage to the latter, rather than go to the former,
for his soul's sake." As to the Signor Baccio Lanfredini,
he had received on the spot one of those mighty strokes
of grace from on high which produce immediate disgust
for earthly things. Wounded, whilst at Catherine's feet,
with the true love of God, he had then and there made
the resolve to avoid even venial sin for the future, so as
the better to consecrate his life; and, henceforth, no courtly
dissipations, nor the public duties of offices in Pisa — where
he was shortly afterwards appointed governor — ever dis-
tracted him from the work of inward perfection and union
with his Creator, which he carried on unceasingly till
his death.

The testimony of these men — all known to be very
intelligent and of high character — produced in Florence
the effect hoped for by the grand duchess, and Cathe-

AND HER COMMUNITY 119

rine's wonderful gifts were acknowledged to be not merely
the fancy of enthusiastic women. The " pilgrimages " to
Prato immensely increased, and not a week passed in which
some gentleman or lady of the court, or member of a noble
family, did not go there — at first, very often, secretly — to
satisfy his or her curiosity. But, however privately they
had gone, the results of all these visits were proclaimed
on the house-tops; and soon all mystery about such jour-
neys ceased, curiosity giving way to real devotion; and the
Florentines made public expeditions in common to see the
marvellous spectacle. From Florence the movement spread
before long through Tuscany to other parts of Italy.
In towns and private dwellings people told one another
that the young daughter of Pierfrancesco de' Ricci had
become " the spouse of Jesus Christ crucified " ; and that
every week she was seen to suffer with Him, in both body
and soul, all the pains of the Passion. From all parts they
flocked to San Vincenzio, to see for once in a lifetime — if
only for an hour, or perhaps a moment — so great a marvel.
Rome, Bologna, Milan, and many other places caught the
pious contagion, and successively sent their most illus-
trious inhabitants to witness this extraordinary spectacle.

But whilst Sister Catherine was thus drawing crowds
to the convent by the reports of her supernatural gifts, she
was living — when out of her ecstatic state — a life of morti-
fication and simple humility amongst her sisters, which
was a clearer proof to them of the reality of her union with
God than any of the marvels that He worked through
her. Like all great saints, she was an intense lover of
voluntary penance, and practised it to a degree and in a
manner truly Dominican. From May of the year 1542
she had taken to perpetual abstinence, to which she seems
to have been supernaturally inspired; and this abstinence
she made to consist of living almost entirely on vegetable
diet, hardly ever eating fish, and only taking a little broth
when she was ill. On this point of entire abstinence — the
Rule making it only partial — Catherine had to endure a
good deal of opposition from her community, as Rose of
Lima in the same case had to do from her parents; and it

120 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

was only after several times, both openly and secretly,
testing the real supernatural inability to take meat which
had been imparted to the saint, that the nuns gave in to
her desires. Being left free in this matter, she next pro-
ceeded to drop by degrees every sort of seasoning, or
delicacy of preparation, that could make her food more
palatable; and then, further, she diminished its quantity,
so as to live in a perpetual fast. When she possibly could,
she ate only the coarsest bread brought to the convent by
the sisters who begged for the community; and three
times a week she condemned herself regularly to live
entirely on bread and water, that she might be like the
poorest of the poor. Her biographer, Serafino Razzi,
breaks forth into an apostrophe to gluttons, as he describes
these fasts. "And it was on this regimen," he writes,
" that Catherine lived to the age of nearly sixty-six. So
true is it that frugality and sobriety prolong life, and that
good cheer and intemperance are the things that shorten it
by disease and premature death! "

The saint's mastery over sleep was as complete as that
over food: indeed, she is said to have attained to never
sleeping for more than about an hour in a week, except
under obedience, when she would go to sleep immediately,
but be heard praying all the time. When Sister Madda-
lena, her ever-faithful guardian, remonstrated with her on
the extreme pitch to which she had brought her habit of
watching, she is reported to have replied: "Oh, never
mind, dear mother. It is the will of Jesus that prayer
should serve me for sleep."

As regards inflicting pain on her body, St Catherine
was behind none of the great Dominican saints in fervour.
She wore a rough hair-shirt, with a girdle of sharp iron
points beneath, and imitated her " holy Father " in her
disciplines, which she took nightly with an iron scourge,
and offered, after his example, for a threefold intention:
i.e., for the sins of the whole world, for the souls in purga-
tory, and for her own sins and those of her sisters in
religion.

Beyond all these bodily mortifications, however, in

AND HER COMMUNITY 121

respect of making Catherine beloved and revered in her
community, was her continued and increasing humility.
The account of her early years of trial amongst the nuns
has shown how remarkable was this virtue in her from the
beginning; and neither the full acknowledgement of her
supernatural gifts by superiors and companions, nor the
visits paid to the convent which showed how she was be-
coming publicly known, made the slightest difference to
her genuine, heartfelt conviction of her own personal worth-
lessness. The more she was favoured by God, the less did
she think of herself and the more humble and lowly became
her bearing towards others. As regarded the community,
her attitude was that of simple servitude: she was always
thanking God for having placed her amongst such holy
people, and insisted on waiting upon all whenever it was
possible, and on doing all the lowest and most disagreeable
work that she could find. As regarded the outer world and
the visitors who began coming in such numbers to see her,
she had but one wish: to escape them. Sometimes, of course
outsiders coming for this purpose were allowed merely to
look at her whilst in a state of ecstasy, and then took their
departure; but at other times her superiors ordered her to
see people who wished to speak with her. If Catherine ever
found out, indirectly, that this was likely to happen, she
did her best to hide before any obedience could be laid
upon her; and stories are told of all sorts of odd places in
which she took refuge that nobody might find her: such
as a thick bed of fennel in the garden, a cupboard in the
lingerie^ and even the pigeon-house ! To this last place she
mounted with the help of the kitchen sister, who — find-
ing her in great distress at tITe prospect of being made a
"show" of to a stranger on the occasion of a certain pro-
cession— gave her a ladder to climb up by, assuring her
that she was perfectly safe there: as turned out to be the
case, for Sister Maddalena only found her missing charge
when the function was over, and the sister who had helped
her made known the hiding place. Catherine is said to have
been found on this occasion kneeling, surrounded by the
pigeons, and with one little creature perched on her head,

122

whilst she herself was calmly rapt in ecstasy; and to have
said quietly to her mistress, when she came to herself:
" Did you see how familiarly those dear birds had come
round me ? "

That such humility as Catherine's was accompanied by
perfect gentleness and sweetness of manner and speech,
and by obedience wherein no flaw could be detected, need
hardly be said. In fact, it is to her utter obedience that her
biographers owe much of their knowledge of her super-
natural gifts. As in her early days, she never voluntarily
talked of her inner life; and nothing would have induced
her, of her own accord, to make known any special favours
or visions granted to her in private ; so that nothing be-
yond the outward marvels of her life would have been dis-
covered in the community had she been left to herself.
When, however, her superiors put her under obedience
to tell her special "mistress" everything of a supernatural
kind that passed within her, it would no more have oc-
curred to her to disobey in this matter than in any other ;
and she gave the account of her various states with the
openness and simplicity of a child.

In intensity of devotion to the Blessed Sacrament,
Catherine appears to have at least equalled any saint in the
calendar; and many touching stories are told of visions
beheld by her in the sacred Host, or on the altar, as rewards
of her faith and love. Above all was she noted for the ex-
treme care and fervour with which she always prepared for
Communion, and for the earnestness with which she la-
boured to instil the same devotion and reverence which
she herself felt and practised into her fellow-nuns. She was
wont to beg of our Lord — breaking forth sometimes into
burning words, heard by all — to inspire her with the need-
ful powers for making them understand the great graces
and benefits received in the holy Eucharist, which she felt
that few people realize. At one time — according to the
custom of the age — she had great difficulty in getting leave
to communicate as often as she wished ; and it was only in
answer to her unwearying prayers and complaints to her di-

AND HER COMMUNITY 123

vine Spouse that the convent confessor was at last inspired
to give her leave for daily Communion.

But the private virtues, and the desire for hiddenness,
which made the young saint such an object of love and
reverence within her convent home, could of course not
be known to the outside world or to ecclesiastical superiors
in high places living at a distance. The public fact was that
a large concourse of people was being attracted to a convent
in an obscure corner of Tuscany by the report of a young
nun's great sanctity; and before long Rome — ever-watchful
for abuses — took fright. Paul III, then pope, suspected the
possibility of some blameworthy motive in the commu-
nity for so attracting outsiders, and he privately ordered
Cardinal Roberto de' Pucci, Bishop of Pistoja and "Dio-
cesan" of San Vincenzio, to go himself to the spot, care-
fully study the facts of the case, and make an official report.
Accordingly, professing to go as one of the ordinary pious
people who were daily making pilgrimages to Prato, this
eminent prelate, with two other bishops and several eccle-
siastics, made his appearance unexpectedly at the convent.
Taken thus by surprise, both Catherine herself and the com-
munity fully stood the test. The reality of the marvels re-
ported, the saint's great gifts and solid virtues, and the conduct
of her superiors in the matter, all made a deep impression on
the pope's representative. They were unanimous in inform-
ing His Holiness that, so far from having done anything
either to bring about or to encourage the influx of people
to their house, the nuns and their immediate superiors of
the Order had shown both their prudence and the noble
simplicity of their character by doing their best to lessen
it. They had been, as everybody acknowledged, inflexible
in keeping the majority of visitors from holding intercourse
with the saint, and had only admitted persons whom they
could not refuse without rashness, or who had a right to
demand admittance. They further formally stated that "in
the grave state of things now prevalent in the Church, such
a concourse to witness such a spectacle could not come to-
gether but to the great advantage of true Christians and

1 24 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

the confusion of heretics; for that the extraordinary graces,
of which they themselves had just been witnesses, consti-
tuted a most striking demonstration of the truth of the
Catholic faith."*

Thus, by the end of 1544 — her own community, and
then her fellow-countrymen, having been already convinced
— we find the seal of the supreme spiritual authority placed
on Catherine de' Ricci's sanctity, and on the reality and
closeness of her union with God in her ecstatic states.

* Sandrini, lib. I, cap. xxix, p. 91.

AND HER COMMUNITY 125

CHAPTER XI

Catherine's mission to the sixteenth century — The great personages of
Italy throng to Prato — The saint made sub-prioress (1547) — Death
of Mother Raffaella da Fae'nza — Catherine's influence on souls —
Her miraculous power of converting sinners, and expiatory offerings
for them — Her devotion to the souls in purgatory

THE pope's commissioners might indeed well speak of the
importance of such a testimony to the truth as was afforded
by St Catherine's weekly ecstasies, just at the particular
period when they attracted public attention. The middle
and latter part of the sixteenth century was truly " the hour
of the powers of darkness " in the form of Protestantism
apparently triumphant throughout nearly all the countries
in the north of Europe; whilst, in Italy, the morals of those
in high — and what should have been holy — places were
unhappily providing an object-lesson for the promotion of
heresy in the name of " reform."

It is told of our saint that she had to share our Lord's
sight of the sins of mankind during His agony in the
Garden, by herself seeing, before the beginning of each
weekly ecstasy, terrible visions of the iniquities going on
at that time all over Europe, and especially in Italy.

One day (Sandrini relates) she was carried in spirit to
Germany, where she saw that grand country devastated by
Luther's heresy, under the appearance of vast tracts of land
filled with enormous serpents, and with imaginary terrible
beasts, all engaged in tearing the land into bits, which they
separated from the mother-country, as limbs might be torn
piecemeal from a body. Another time the Spirit of God
caused her to go successively to all the spots in Europe that
the great heresy had attacked secretly. When she reached
the towns of Italy, and beheld the wide spread of contagion
amongst them, she sent forth a cry of horror and surprise:
" O my God, if all those who are heretics at heart were

126 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

to profess their errors publicly, the number of faithful would
indeed be small ! " *

The convent archives tell us that holy Church often
appeared to her, covered symbolically with horrible, dis-
figuring wounds; and that she would then cry out, with
sobs and tears: " Ah, my divine Spouse, I recommend Thy
whole Church and Thy mercy! Oh, how many Judases are
profaning and betraying her! Why — why — should we keep
silence any longer? Why not tell the truth aloud? O Lord,
Lord, renew this poor Church, which belongs to Thee, but
in which Thou canst now behold no form of a Church ! "
— or words to the same effect.f

At other times, praying in ecstasy for the sins of the
world, and seeing Rome in a mysterious vision, she would
express her grief in some such utterance as: "Poor city of
Rome! what sins are committed there — what lives are being
led! Have pity on her, O Lord — come to her help! And
help too, I beseech Thee, the whole of Italy, and all Chris-
tendom. Ah, what blindness! What ignorance! " J

It was after such visions as these — forming her Geth-
semane — that the saint followed her divine Master, in spirit,
over the Brook Cedron by the Way of the Cross to Gol-
gotha; and, from every quarter of Italy, people began
crowding to Prato as to a second Jerusalem, there to gaze
upon the sacred Victim on His altar of sacrifice. For, when

* Sandrini, lib. II, cap. ii, p. 156. + Le Lettere, Document!, etc., p. no.

J What the saint was thus mysteriously beholding from the depths of her convent,
the fathers assembled from all parts of the world at the Council of Trent were at the
very same time, and almost in the same words, publicly proclaiming. During the second
session, the Bishop of St Mark's addressed the great assembly with a burning exhorta-
tion to provide a remedy for the "mortal wounds" of the Church; and, in pointing out
the enemies to be combated, spoke first of "the open deserters who are upsetting every-
thing, destroying the Sacraments, and attacking us with our own weapons — the Holy
Scriptures — which they twist and mutilate " ; and then went on to name the secret enemies,
"who, pretending to belong to us, pervert not only individuals, but sometimes whole
towns." Speaking further of the corruption of morals, he exclaimed: "Look at Rome —
placed in the midst of nations to shine like a star! Look at Italy — France — Spain! You
will see neither sex, nor age, nor condition of life that is not corrupt. Scythians — Afri-
cans— Thracians — live not more impure or criminal lives!"

Then, turning boldly from the effect to the cause, he went on : " O Pastors ! O
towers placed on a hill ! We, who ought to shine more brightly than the sun — we it is
who have led away the flock of the Lord by our example. They thought us the better
the more highly we were placed; and it is by forming their lives on our pattern that they
have been dragged down to that abyss, whence they can never rise except with us, when
we shall climb again to the heights of virtue from which we have fallen!" (Rohrbacher,
Histoire de I'Eglise, Vol. XXIV, Book Ixxv, p. 18.)

AND HER COMMUNITY 127

once in Catherine's presence, the beholders of her seraphic
union with Christ crucified immediately forgot the copy,
to think only of the divine original; and, like the centu-
rion at the foot of the cross, each new comer struck his
breast and bewailed his sins, with heart softened by love
for a God who has so loved us.

This strange spectacle — for it is here necessary to ante-
date matters a little — went on for twelve years; and during
that time it never ceased to attract, for witnesses, the most
illustrious and influential members of Roman and Tuscan
society, princes, princesses, nobles, savants, magistrates,
bishops, eminent religious of different orders — in short,
people from every class whence the leaders of religion and
patriotism spring — constantly went and came around the
humble Dominican convent, and carried back to their
respective spheres full accounts of the impressions they
had received. These impressions, moreover, continued
throughout to be as deep as those made on the first wit-
nesses of the ecstasy. We are told that it almost seemed as
though the Son of God was pouring forth the effects of His
Redemption in floods over the favoured spot, so marvel-
lous were the conversions there worked — and, above all,
the brilliant intellectual lights granted as to the truth. No-
body was allowed to assist at these mysteries of love without
experiencing wonderful results in some degree — each accor-
ding to his own state or capacity.

When we consider such a state of things as this, we
cannot wonder that the long continuance of this great
ecstasy was alone sufficient to revive faith in innumerable
souls, and to secure its possession to the inhabitants of the
country where the miracle was wrought; and that hence
the clouds of error drifting over from Germany were
quickly dispersed, on reaching Tuscan skies, by the sun of
Catherine's holiness.

History has carefully preserved the names of many
amongst the great personages who came in succession,
both during these twelve years and afterwards, to admire
the marvels of grace revealed in the saint of Prato and to
profit by them. To begin with, princes of the Church —

128 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

besides Roberto de' Pucci, Cardinals Gaddi, Cafarelli, and
Marcello Cervini — who afterwards became pope under the
name of Marcellus II — are all named as having been wit-
nesses of the ecstasy of the Passion, and all gave striking
testimony to it, declaring that they considered it one of
the greatest graces of their lives to have gained Catherine's
powerful intercession with God. Fra Vincenzio Giustiniani
— who was at first General of the Dominican Order, and
afterwards a cardinal — confided most important and delicate
matters of business to Catherine, and took her advice
about them. It is reported of him, and also of Cardinal
Aldobrandini, who mounted St Peter's Chair as Cle-
ment VIII, that nothing ever inspired either of them with
a higher standard, or with more generous impulses in the
service of God, than the few hours of intercourse that they
obtained with her at San Vincenzio. When St Pius V was
pope (which was after the public miracle of the weekly
ecstasy had ceased, as will be seen) he ordered his nephew,
Cardinal Michael Bonelli, to make a pilgrimage to Prato
on the way to Spain — where he went as legate to negotiate
the league against the Turks — in order to see the saint,
and recommend his mission to her prayers. He found so
much good result from the visit that he returned to the
convent on his way back, to offer his thanks and to see
Catherine again. Another important witness to her won-
derful gifts was Alessandro de' Medici — afterwards Pope
Leo XI — who could not help paying homage to her emi-
nent sanctity, in spite of knowing her deep devotion to
Savonarola, who was to him so antipathetic. Whilst living
close to Prato, as Archbishop of Florence, he used to go
from time to time to visit her, to beg for her prayers and
to imbibe some of the wisdom of God that fell from
her lips.

Amongst Tuscan "great ladies" — besides the Princess
Maria Salviati and the Grand-Duchess Eleonora, already
mentioned — the following connections of the reigning house
are specially named as having visited and known the saint:
The Arch-Duchess Joanna of Austria, wife of Francesco de'
Medici; her two daughters, Eleonora and Maria, of whom

AND HER COMMUNITY 129

one became by marriage Duchess of Mantua, and the other
Queen of France, as wife to Henri IV; Francesco de'
Medici's two sisters, Duchesses of Ferrara and Braciano ;
Christina of Lorraine, wife of the Grand-Duke Fernando
de' Medici ; and Eleonora Orsini, wife of Duke Sforza
of Milan.

Of foreign personages who went to Prato, the most
remarkable were the Dukes of Mantua and Ferrara ; the
King of Bavaria's son ; and Don Luis Belasio, the Spanish
ambassador.

Thus, whilst in Germany, England, Denmark and Swe-
den, the ruling classes were seizing upon the property of
Religious houses, and using the possession of riches by
monastic orders as an argument against Catholic doctrine,
one simple maiden, in her humble cell, was attracting all
the power and royalty of Italy by the mere odour of her
virtues ; and she had but to let fall a few words from her
lips — or even just to let herself be seen invested with the
supernatural glory of her Lord — to draw forth from all
who approached her a cry of faith and love for the Church ;
for what could a mother able to bring forth such children
be, but the true spouse of Christ ?

This incessant concourse of people to the convent-
some wishing to see Catherine in ecstasy, but many also to
have personal intercourse with her in her ordinary state,
that they might interest her in their concerns, and beg for
her prayers or her advice — began, in time, to make the
saint's extreme unwillingness to appear somewhat of a
difficulty to her superiors. Even at ordinary times of
year, some visitor of note was pretty certain to appear
more than once a day; but through the spring and summer,
when Prato and its neighbourhood were the resorts of
nearly the whole Florentine nobility, crowds daily invaded
the convent. The fact that only a few privileged people
were actually admitted to see the saint in no wise di-
minished the pressure or discouraged the visitors, who
would endure hours of waiting for the mere chance of just
looking at her from the parlour or the church ; and when
Sister Catherine had managed one of her "hidings" so

130 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

cleverly that she could not be found even for those who
had been allowed entrance, and promised an interview with
her, the superiors were at their wits' end as to how they
should appease the disappointed devotees. If these hap-
pened, moreover, to be princes or princesses — or other
people of importance in some way — the matter became
even more serious, as injury might accrue to the commu-
nity if influential visitors were offended, however unrea-
sonably. Besides this, the nuns were really grieved, from
a spiritual point of view, to find themselves so often com-
pelled to refuse what might be a very great advantage to
the souls of others, simply on account of their holy young
sister's shrinking humility.

For all these reasons the community at last determined
to consult their chief superior, the prior of St Dominic's
monastery. This office was just then filled by FraTommaso
Roffi de' San Miniato, a man of great learning and wis-
dom, who — after having once been strongly prejudiced
against her — was a devoted admirer of Catherine, and
humbly called himself her spiritual son. He at once gave
very decided advice : that they should appoint her sub-
prioress of the convent, which would satisfy the devotion
of the faithful without in any way hurting her humility,
since it was one of the regular duties of this office to ac-
company the prioress to the parlour whenever she went
to see strangers. This answer seemed like a flash of light
to Mother Raffaella da Fae"nza, who was then once again
prioress. The intense devotion of this saintly woman to
the convent, as one of its early foundresses, and the pro-
phetic spirit with which she had greeted and believed in
Catherine de' Ricci on her arrival there as a child, have
been already described. She was now the only one left of
those nine first Religious of San Vincenzio ; and — with
her old ardent longing to see "a saint" ruling her com-
munity— had for some time past been secretly wishing to
associate her favourite in the government of the house, as
her own sub-prioress.

A humble opinion of her own judgement, however, and
zeal for the convent traditions, which had hitherto forbid-

AND HER COMMUNITY 131

den the raising of any but fully-matured subjects to this
office, kept her from carrying out the desire on her own
responsibility, in view of Catherine's youth. But when the
initiative came from a man of such personal eminence and
such unquestioned authority as this prior, she hesitated no
longer, but accepted his decision as a voice from heaven;
and thus the young saint, in spite of her strong resistance
and actual tears of entreaty to be spared, was officially in-
stalled as sub-prioress on December 21, 1547, when she
was not quite twenty-six years old. It is said of M. Raffaella
on this occasion that her joy at seeing her longing fulfilled,
and the " child of her desires " placed at her side in autho-
rity, was so great that she then and there raised her hands
and eyes to heaven and took farewell of earth, begging God
to let her soul quickly depart in peace from this world. It
is certain, at any rate, that this appointment of Catherine
was almost the last act of the holy prioress, for she fell ill
a month afterwards, never to rise from her sick-bed again.
Her last hour came, and found her smiling and joyful. She
sent for, and gave wise counsel to all the nuns from the
novices up to the " ancients " of the house — as the oldest
professed mothers were called; and then, faithful to her
character of " precursor " to St Catherine de' Ricci, she
recommended to their votes, as the best person for the
office of prioress after her own death, Sister Maddalena
Strozzi. She felt that such an election, by keeping the
personal guardian and mistress of the saint united to her in
the government of the house, would, better than any other
arrangement, ensure perfection for the community. This
done, the last survivor of the foundresses blessed her
children, and breathed forth her spirit in peace. She died
on January 28, 1548, at midnight; and we are told that
Catherine had revealed to her that this beautiful soul spent
about five hours in purgatory, for its perfect purifica-
tion, and then, with early dawn on earth, took flight to
heaven.

Raffaella's work was finished : that of the " saint " for
whom she had prayed, and for whose coming she had pre-
pared the ground, was yet to be accomplished.

1 32 ST CATHERINE DE' RICC1

This saint, then, has now to be viewed in the altered
position of being brought, by virtue of her office, into more
immediate contact with souls outside her community than
she had been before; and we have to see how, under these
circumstances, she unconsciously came to exercise more
and more widely that grandest of all Christ-like faculties —
the power of touching sinners' hearts and winning the grace
of conversion for them.

Catherine's biographers are unanimous in declaring
that what helped, more than anything else, to draw souls
by her means to holiness, was something peculiarly and
extraordinarily attractive and impressive in her face: some-
thing which, whilst exceedingly gracious, modest and bright,
was at the same time inexplicably grand and compelling.
Now, if we may judge by prints of St Catherine de' Ricci
taken from portraits that are said to be contemporary, her
face was anything but beautiful, naturally; in fact, if some
of these pictures are correct, her features were almost ugly
when in repose. We may hope that such portraits as these
were not quite faithful to nature; but, in any case, it is clear
— from a certain general resemblance amongst all the
Italian pictures — that there can have been nothing in her
own personal appearance to account for this extraordinary
attraction possessed by her mere look: none of that remark-
able, commanding beauty of person, which does undoubt-
edly sometimes — even in the case of very holy people —
first help to draw hearts towards them. Hence, we may
safely conclude that this inexplicable " something " in our
saint was a purely supernatural endowment; and, looking
back to that occasion when Christ had been pleased to allow
His own countenance to appear through hers, it were per-
haps not too bold to suppose that there henceforth lingered
on her features some remains of that divine light which had
then so overpowered the beholders. Be this as it may, it is
certain that there came from her face a power that appeared
to spring straight from God, so firmly and suddenly did
it seize hold of hearts and conquer them for Him. " No
matter," says Razzi, " how corrupt or perverted they might
be, souls [at sight of her] passed suddenly from the most

AND HER COMMUNITY 133

unbridled love of the world to a deep and tender love
of God."

One of the earliest instances of this power recorded is
that of the very sudden conversion of a bishop, who came
to San Vincenzio to administer confirmation. This man
was called Giovan-Maria Canigiani, and belonged to a well-
known Florentine family. He is described as one of those
miserable specimens of degenerate Religious, common at
the period, who turned into the cloister as they would into
a cross-road, as the quickest and most certain way of reach-
ing ecclesiastical preferment. He had first been a Dominican
friar; then, entering the Order of Vallombrosa, had become
general; and had finally added to this dignity the title and
office of bishop. But this was supposed not to be the end
of his ambition; for public report accused him of having,
more ardently than justly, coveted the cardinal's hat, and of
having wasted the property of the Order on trying to obtain
it. This accusation had been embodied by mischievous
Italian wit in a caricature, wherein the general was repre-
sented strangling St John Gualbert, founder of his own
Order. This prelate, then, came to the convent to confirm
a few young ladies who were brought up there. He was
brought into Catherine's presence — whether in her ecstasy
or not does not appear — and, the moment that he gazed
on her face, he was touched so hard by God that, having
to go immediately to the altar to say his Mass, he did
nothing the whole time he was celebrating but weep and
deplore his sins, giving every sign of the deepest repen-
tance. The sincerity of this instantaneous conversion, and
the certainty of his having taken measures to reform and
repair his former bad life, were proved; for he died not
very long afterwards, and Catherine had it revealed to her
that he had saved his soul.

Two instances of sudden reform, on merely beholding
Catherine's face accidentally — one, of a peasant named
Baccio, who saw her go by in a procession, and the other
of a man who attended his blind master on a visit to the
saint, and caught sight of her through the parlour grille —
may be passed over with simple mention; but we may

134 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

give in full the story of a young man, whose name does
not appear, but the details of whose conversion are in-
teresting. He was brother to two nuns of San Vincenzio,
and was well known for his dissolute life. He came one
day to the convent on a visit to his sisters; and they —
hoping that she would say a few words that might influ-
ence him for good — sent for Catherine, then sub-prioress,
to the parlour. She came; and had hardly reached the
grille than, raising her eyes to the young man's face and
giving him a piercing look, she was seized with great
sadness and a deep pity for his soul, by reason of the hor-
rors with which she saw it stained. Then, after standing
there for a few minutes full of melancholy, she went away
without uttering a word. The young man's sisters, taken
by surprise, and quite confused at such an abrupt and al-
most insulting departure, waited a little and then sent to
ask Mother Catherine to come back. She obeyed the sum-
mons, but only to act again as she had done before: to fix her
eyes, full of sadness, on the youth's countenance, and in a
moment or two once more to depart, still in complete
silence. The two young nuns, more and more astounded
and ashamed, returned yet again to the charge by sending
another message to the saint; but this time she sent down
an excuse that she was ill. Then the young nuns, utterly
disconcerted and puzzled at her conduct, began assuring
their brother how unlike this was to the holy sub-prioress's
usual behaviour, when he himself burst forth with the
explanation of the mystery. He confessed that, the very
moment his eyes met those of the saint, he had seen all
the crimes and abominations of his life — all his acts of
ingratitude to God — pass before his vision as though in a
mirror; and that the sight had so pierced him with sharp
contrition that he had then and there promised our Lord
to serve him faithfully for his whole life. When the
sisters reported this to Mother Catherine, she assured
them that their brother would henceforth not only be
a faithful Christian, but that, filled with the Spirit of
God, he would become the instrument of salvation to

AND HER COMMUNITY 135

many souls. Such was the kind of incident that happened
over and over again throughout Catherine's life.

There were times when the saint had the gift of
prophecy for the benefit of her fellows; and one instance is
specially recorded, at this period, of her having saved the
son of a lady — an intimate friend — from the commission
of a great and disastrous crime, by sending him, through
his mother, a secret message, which showed that she had
been supernaturally warned beforehand of his intention.

It must not be supposed, however, that it was only
for the conversion of sinners that Catherine's marvellous
gifts were employed. The just felt her influence, when
brought into contact with her, as keenly as the wicked;
and there was one particular effect which the sight of her,
or a few minutes' conversation, is said sometimes to have
produced, which calls for special notice. This consisted in
the supernatural engraving, on the mind of the person
concerned, of a marvellously vivid picture, sometimes of
her own face and sometimes of the face of our Lord
Himself on the cross. Whichever it might be, the super-
natural impression had the same effect: that, namely, of so
strengthening, raising, and enlightening the subject of it
(who seems to have been able at will to recall and gaze
upon this interior image, when once impressed) in that the
things of earth became more and more indifferent and
contemptible to him, and the depths of his soul remained
at peace no matter how great the outward stress of trouble or
temptation. Two people who are specially named as having
been subjects of this miraculous effect — a young Floren-
tine of great literary tastes, and an eminent lawyer re-
nowned for his abilities — appear to have had peculiarly
holy and happy deaths as the final result of it.

This almost universally converting effect of a visit to
Mother Catherine at Prato, after her having been placed
in office, became in time so widely recognized that the very
strength of popular faith in her powers kept some people
away from her. It was hardly safe for those whose delibe-
rate attachment to some state of sin or of lukewarmness

136 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

made them dread a change to visit a person with such
a dangerous faculty of mastering souls; and it is generally
supposed that some such motive as this, some fear of being
compulsorily moved to moral reform, kept the two chief
personages of Florence, and the nearest neighbours to Prato
of all the Tuscan princes, away from the saint. Throughout
the whole time of Catherine's life — whilst members of all
the reigning houses and the rest of the Italian nobility
continued to resort in crowds to San Vincenzio — it was
remarked that neither Cosmo de' Medici, nor his son and
successor Francesco, ever entered its doors; and it was well
known that their absence was not caused by unbelief or con-
tempt for the saint, for they both did all they could to show
their faith and their reverence, constantly sending alms to
the convent and begging for prayers on all occasions. Only
they would not trust themselves in her presence.

But besides this miraculous share in our Lord's re-
deeming power, granted to Catherine as a consequence of
her share in His Passion, she possessed in high degree
another and more ordinary faculty for the winning of souls:
that of the most intense love for them. This love, in her,
took the form — which, indeed, it has taken with more or
less intensity in many saints — of a burning desire to suffer
herself for the sins of others, and so to expiate them; and
one of her biographers says that "like another Samuel"
she incessantly groaned and wept over the sins of mankind,
entreating the Lord to spare sinners and to let her suffer,
in body and soul, all the punishments due to them. He
adds, too, that God heard her, and that she appeared some-
times completely crushed under the weight of the responsi-
bility she had accepted: that she might be seen breathless
with fatigue, her body bent down, her steps tottering, her
whole aspect that of one bearing a burden far beyond her
strength. He tells how, the first time that her guardian,
Maddalena, met her in this torturing attitude, she naturally
ran to help her, and anxiously inquired what had caused
such a state of weakness; and how Catherine answered, with
a deep sigh: "Mother, it seems as if my Jesus had laid
the weight of the whole world on my shoulders ! "

AND HER COMMUNITY 137

Sometimes the visions that the saint had were so terrible
as to make her fall fainting and rigid to the ground, where
her sisters would find her; and then they would learn, on
her recovery, the cause of her overwhelming grief.

Another form in which the saint made expiation for
sin was that of taking upon herself the sufferings due to
particular individuals, which were inflicted upon her di-
rectly from the hand of God for their redemption. Some-
times such pains were to benefit one of those exceptional
public sinners, appearing from time to time in the world's
history, who seem absolutely to require the sacrifice ot
some holy and innocent victim as co-operator in their salva-
tion, to whom our Lord does not choose to give the fruit
of redemption without the mediation of the saints. On
other occasions she exercised this special ministry for people
usually good or even holy, but likely to be overcome by
some peculiarly strong temptation, as she did for a nun
in her own community who was tempted on her death-bed
to utter despair. Or, again, she would purchase by this
means the conversion of some private friend whose spiri-
tual state she knew to be very bad; as in the case of a certain
gentleman who was an immense benefactor to the convent,
and a man of uncommonly generous and upright character,
but a complete unbeliever. His name is not given, but the
story of his conversion throws some striking lights on
Catherine's character. She was extremely grateful to this
signor for his continuous and liberal help to the community,
and for the respectful admiration which — despite his absence
of faith — he always showed for the nuns, who appear to
have had no claim at all on his generosity. Like her father,
St Dominic, "she could not bear to reap temporal advan-
tages without sowing spiritual ones"; and she set herself
earnestly to win this soul to its Creator, constantly urging
on her friend the claims of his God and of his own eternal
destiny. She talked, however, in vain ; he would not listen
to such language, and always managed to turn the conver-
sation when it took this line, or went brusquely out of the
parlour. One day, when the saint was pressing him more
closely than usual, he lost patience so far as to forget cour-

138 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

tesy, and said, in a haughty tone, that "he knew what he
was about ! He had no need to learn from a woman's ser-
mons, and her business was to stick to her distaff and
spin ! " Catherine, miserable over his obstinacy, went
straight to her cell to pray once more to her divine Spouse
for his salvation. No one ever knew from herself what had
passed in her secret heart on this occasion; but the result
showed of what nature her prayer must have been. Their
benefactor fell dangerously ill, suddenly recognized the
hand that had struck him down, and humbly bowed be-
neath it. Become a Christian at the last moment of life, his
really grand nature showed itself by the extraordinarily
fervent acts of faith and love that he made: and the deter-
mined unbeliever died "the death of the saints." When a
friend brought the detailed account of his last hours to
Catherine, she said smilingly: " Now he must know whether
Catherine went to her spinning, or did something else for
his salvation ! " She, however, was at the same time seized
with most violent bodily pains, which she had to bear for
a definite period.*

This intense love of suffering for others was, as we
should expect to find, very often carried by the saint
beyond the region of this world into that of the Church
suffering. The supernatural visions of purgatory often
granted to her were as vivid, and sometimes as overpower-
ingly touching to her heart — though in a different way —
as her visions of sin and of the punishment that impeni-
tent sinners would have to suffer. She is said to have been
often mysteriously conducted through the place of purga-
tion by different saints, but especially by her own guardian
angel; and to have made, in consequence of what she saw,
such intensely ardent supplications for the release of those
she found there, that our Lord could not resist her prayers.
She learnt also, by these visions, the deep importance in the
sanctification of a Christian of many things that seemed
small on earth; and especially did she learn this in the case
of Religious, by once finding a nun from her own commu-
nity, whose life had been noted for holiness, suffering much

* Razzi, lib. Ill, cap. viii, p. 182.

AND HER COMMUNITY 139

on account of some slight carelessness in administering the
" temporalities," which had caused diminution in goods
that should have benefited the poor. Souls that were en-
during very severe punishment, too, were occasionally
caused to appear to her on earth, revealing what were their
torments, and urgently begging her help.

Over and over again, as the result of the knowledge thus
mysteriously acquired, Catherine prayed to take upon her-
self the penance of others; and she was allowed by this
means to deliver many — both strangers and friends — from
purgatorial pains, either wholly, or after a much shorter
time than was really due to their sins. God often rewarded
her love and zeal by sending her revelations of the attain-
ment of heaven by those for whom she had suffered; and,
amongst others, our Lady once showed her a sister of her
own whom she had thus delivered. Moreover, holy souls
who had reached the Beatific Vision by her help were some-
times allowed to come themselves to announce their happi-
ness and to thank her for it.

And, with all those wonders being worked by her in-
fluence or prayers — with the daily increase of visitors to
the convent on her account — what was the attitude of the
saint during her years as sub-prioress ? It is described as
only an intensified degree of her former self-doubting hu-
mility : a deeper and deeper conviction of her utter un-
worthiness to be amongst such holy companions as those
over whom she had been set. The very concourse of
strangers to the place, of which she knew so much more
than she had done in her private capacity, was only a source
of fear and trouble to her tender conscience. It made her
fancy herself the cause of disturbance, and perhaps a spiri-
tual injury, to the community by bringing incessant
distraction into the retired and peaceful atmosphere of
Religious life ; and she used at times to accuse herself of
this, covered with confusion as if at some tremendous
crime. Once, when the sisters found her dissolved in tears,
on a Friday night just after her ecstasy of the Passion, and
asked her what was the matter, she declared most earnestly
that she felt unworthy to wear the habit, and that " if she

1 40 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

had to be professed again, she was quite sure that they
would never receive her because of the disorder, bad
example, and scandals of her life ! " Mother Maddalena,
standing by, could not help exclaiming: "Sister Catherine!
are you speaking seriously?" Then the saint, with sobs
and tears redoubled, solemnly protested in answer: "God
is my witness that I am! I am quite convinced that if the
community could have foreseen all my disorderly conduct,
and all the trouble and scandal that I should cause it,
I should never have been admitted to profession!"

One little incident, proving the reality of Catherine's
self-depreciation, may find appropriate place as conclusion
to this chapter. A poor woman from the neighbourhood,
suffering from dropsy, came and knocked at the convent
door one day. The holy sub-prioress happened to be there,
and opened the door herself. "I want to speak to the saint"
said the simple peasant-woman. Catherine fired up in a
moment, and answered quite sharply: "Who is the saint,
and who is not? All the sisters here are good, but none of
them are saints! The saints are in Paradise." And with
that she shut the door in the poor woman's face. How-
ever, she meekly made up for her little ebullition; for the
real portress, Sister Elena Nardi, who had come up
meanwhile and heard what passed, reproached the saint
with harshness towards the poor woman, and begged her
not to send her away hurt. "At least," she begged, " make
the sign of the cross and give her your blessing." So
Mother Catherine, accepting the reproach, opened the
door and called her visitor back. She knew that the poor
creature wanted to be cured of her dropsy; and, signing
a cross on her breast, she told her to " trust in God and
San Vincenzio," and she would pray for her, and she would
be cured. The woman went straight home, and on arriving
found herself well, as the saint had promised; whereupon she
immediately returned to thank her. It is a pleasant ending
to the story to read that the gratitude of this poor peasant
did not end in words. From that day forth she remained
devoted to Catherine, and came constantly to see her and
to bring presents of the very best fruit in season, which
the saint on her side accepted in all grateful simplicity.

AND HER COMMUNITY 141

CHAPTER XII

Work as sub-prioress within the community — She is named prioress (1552)
— Death of her uncle, Fra Timoteo — St Catherine's spiritual teaching
and conferences in chapter — She is delivered, at her own prayer,
from the outward manifestations of her ecstasy of the Passion (1554)

WHILST CATHERINE was doing her best to persuade her com-
panions that she was unfit to hold even the last place in the
community. Providence was so ordering things that she
might before long hold the first. This was what Mother
Raffaella had had in view when she begged God for " a
great saint" for the convent: she had looked not only to
the individual, unobtrusive influence that such a one
would exercise, but to the generous impulse towards
greatness of combined action that is imparted to a com-
munity by saints; and for the bringing about of this
end she knew that it would be necessary for the saint she
desired to govern the house as prioress.

God seemed to have been preparing Catherine de'
Ricci long beforehand for this important ro/e, especially by
the feelings with which He had inspired her for her
sisters in religion. From the time of her first entry into
San Vincenzio, her love for them all had been so great
that she absolutely identified her own interests with theirs,
especially in all matters of spiritual advancement; and she
prayed as fervently and incessantly for all, and tried to
make herself as completely whatever each one desired, as
though she already had the charge of their souls. To this
really maternal zeal and tenderness for her sisters she had
long joined a correctness of judgement, a wisdom in dis-
cernment of spiritual things, and a prudence, gentleness,
and moderation that were quite marvellous at her age;
and all these qualities of course became more conspicuous
now that they had fuller play as she filled the office of
sub-prioress.

During the years that she occupied this post she gave,

1 42 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

as we have seen, much time each day to her apostolate for
souls outside the community; but this did not prevent
her keeping sufficient liberty to attend to the internal
duties and responsibilities involved in her office, and God
Himself helped her in this by so changing the times and
seasons of His special visitations that they should not
interfere with her public community duties, as they had
hitherto often done. It will be remembered how, in the
early days of her convent life, Sister Catherine's "slumbers"
had caused her to be left to herself, and exempted her
from many of the religious exercises practised in common.
From the time when her great ecstasy of the Passion
began, in the year 1 542, this need for excusing her from
assisting on certain occasions in the daily community
functions — both secular and religious — had increased
rather than diminished. She was often seized by raptures
so suddenly — especially at times of holy Communion, at
the evening &?/><?, and in the Refectory when others were
eating and she was trying to conceal her own fasting —
that her ecstatic states were a cause of distraction or dis-
turbance; and her superiors had consequently withdrawn
her from public appearance on these occasions. Now,
however, that she was officially bound, as sub-prioress, to
give an example of strict monastic regularity, all out-
ward manifestations of her supernatural states which could
in any way hinder this duty ceased. She was able to have
meals with the community and take part in the Sahe;
and, though still at times ravished into ecstasy on re-
ceiving her Lord in the Holy Eucharist, it was only in
such a manner as to attract no special attention and to
cause no disorder in the choir.

Besides practising this perfect exactness in outward
duties, Catherine also let no calls on her attention from
seculars hinder her from rinding time for the personal
demands made upon her by the sisters. The latter, despite
her youth, now came constantly to her for advice: either to
get difficulties and doubts cleared up or to obtain greater
lights on matters of the interior life. All who consulted
her were enchanted to find how, under every circumstance

AND HER COMMUNITY 143

and upon all questions proposed to her, she was able to
pronounce decisions and to give answers of such high
wisdom that they could not doubt her being habitually
taught by the Holy Spirit, and inspired with particular
lights for the direction of souls. In short, she managed so
to fill this subordinate office as to satisfy every one, and to
produce in her community the triple effect of great peace in
all souls, perfect union of heart and mind, and a strongly
pronounced movement towards greater religious perfection.*
In addition to this general influence, however, there
was a special one that Catherine had to exercise, in a de-
partment of convent life relegated to the sub-prioress as her
particular work. At San Vincenzio — as in most large com-
munities of that period — the nuns were separated into four
distinct divisions, each of which had its own individual
superior. These divisions consisted respectively of the no-
vices proper; the "young professed" ; the more mature, or
"middle" professed ; and the "ancients," referred to before.
The prioress was ex-officio, head of the ancients, and mother
to the "middle professed" nuns; the novices were of course
under the regular mistress; whilst the sub-prioress was
placed over the "young professed," or junior nuns. To St
Catherine, therefore, fell the specially delicate and impor-
tant task of training and guiding hearts and souls at just the
most difficult crisis in Religious life: at the moment of
transition from the absolute and complete dependence of
the novitiate to the comparative liberty, and greater soli-
tude of soul, that belong to the professed nun. Hers it was
to teach these young sisters as they left their novice-
mistress, to walk firmly on their feet, so to speak, in the
way of Religious perfection, in which they had hitherto
been led and supported by another's hand. St Francis de
Sales speaks of this office as that of "flying before the
young doves, as they leave their mother's nest, to teach
them to use their wings" ; it is clear to any one who thinks
of it, how much watchfulness, holy tact, and tender care
are needed in such a position to rouse the timid, strengthen
the weak, and restrain the rash. So difficult is the task that,

* Sandrini, lib. I, cap. xxviii, xxxviii.

i44 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

pursued even with the most zealous devotion, it not
unfrequently issues in more or less of failure; and many
a fervent novice, promising excellently, has become the
permanent slave of lukewarmness after profession.

Catherine, whilst sub-prioress, was found so extraor-
dinarily successful in accomplishing this work of training,
that the nuns could never remember to have seen so few
failings among the juniors. They seemed, under her gui-
dance, able to keep all the fervour of their noviceship while
they gained the self-possession, and the power of initiative,
necessary for solid progress: imbibing from their saintly
"mother" some of her own spiritual ardour, together with
her remarkable modesty and gentleness. A letter addressed
by her to these "young professed," during one of her terms
of office as sub-prioress,* giving a picture both of her mode
of dealing with them and of the interior life of the convent,
is well worth reading; and though it was written rather
later than the time we are just dealing with, its subject
makes this the most appropriate place to insert it :

To the Young Nuns of the Monastery of San Vincenzio

"The reason of my present letter is, that having been
requested by you to say something on the occasion of your
feast of St Catherine,f I reply as follows : It is not usual
for the sub-prioress to come forward, but to leave all in the
hands of the superior. But I am not able to refrain, on
account of my love for you (considering that you are all
my daughters), from satisfying your desire, with the same
charity that has been shown to me by all in the convent.

* The dates of St Catherine's various elections — which from the year 1547 onwards,
became frequent events — to the offices of sub-prioress and prioress respectively, are a
little confusing, as there appears sometimes to be a slight discrepancy between dates
given in the narrative and those of the letters. For instance, P. Bayonne gives 1552
as the date of her first election as prioress ,• whereas there are letters dated 15 54 in which
she signs, or speaks of, herself as sub-prioress. This may, of course, merely mean that she
was prioress for two years only the first time; but no definite explanation is given of
any such apparent discrepancies. The best thing, therefore, for the reader to do as re-
gards this point — which is, after all, not of much consequence — is to recollect simply
that for about forty years from the time of her being first made sub-prioress she was kept
almost constantly in office as either prioress or "sub." The elections (it may be observed
for the benefit of readers not aware of this) had to be constantly repeated, because an elec-
tion to life-long office — such, for instance, as that of a " consecrated " Benedictine abbot or
abbess — is not allowed in the order.

t St Catherine of Alexandria, martyr, special patroness of the young nuns.

AND HER COMMUNITY 145

Therefore I send you with this a golden scudo. I am sorry
I cannot give you more; but you must excuse me and
accept my good will towards you. The superior will arrange
all to your satisfaction; do not fear.

I exhort and pray you, my dear daughters, to imitate
our glorious saint, and to practise virtue if you would be
pleasing to Jesus, as she pleased Him, if not with the same
degree of perfection, at least as much as your frailty allows.
Remember that she was a woman, and young like your-
selves; yet she did not excuse herself, and you are spouses
of the same holy Spouse as she was. And if you would
exercise yourselves in all the virtues, as she did, your
Spouse will not fail to give you the graces and favours
given to her. Be reverent and obedient to your superiors
as she was. For, out of reverence and obedience to her
mother she went to speak to that holy hermit, whom she
believed and obeyed in all simplicity; she did not say,
" These things which he has told me are childish, that I am
to pray to such an image and I shall see the Spouse of
whom he has spoken." And by her obedience and faith she
merited to see Jesus. Likewise you, my daughters, give
yourselves to holy obedience, and often frequent confession
and holy Communion, if you wish to see Jesus; because
no one can love or see Jesus better than by uniting oneself
with Him in holy Communion. In short, we come to know
His goodness and mercy, and our own vileness and misery;
as did that saint, who in prayer was illuminated with truth,
knew her own errors, and quickly departed from them, and
followed with great fervour Jesus her Spouse. And you, my
daughters, have been called by your Spouse to holy Reli-
gion, so that you may follow His footsteps, and the example
of His holy Mother and the saints; fly, therefore, ever
occasion of offending your Spouse, as did our saint. And
as she had great zeal for the honour of her Spouse, and a
desire to suffer for love of Him, so do you show zeal in
the observance of our holy rule, first for yourselves and then
for your neighbours; and desire to suffer for love of Him,
and to render something to Him for what He has done for
you, so far as is possible to your frailty. If you love your

10

146 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

Spouse with all your heart, as did our glorious saint, you
will not weary of obeying your superiors, but will do it in
all simplicity. And I am glad when you have confidence
in them, as I told you the other day; and I would on no
account that you should be wanting in reverence and
obedience towards them, for you would thereby displease
Jesus your Spouse, and would lose many graces and spiri-
tual favours.

" My dear daughters, give yourselves joyfully to Jesus,
as He willingly gave Himself wholly to you, and as did
our glorious saint, who did not think it hard to go to
martyrdom for love of Him. And do you joyfully and
willingly bear the fatigues and observances of holy Religion,
which are wearying to our senses, and are a kind of martyr-
dom; but to one who loves Jesus with his whole heart,
everything is sweet and pleasant, as He said : "My yoke is
sweet and My burden is light." Therefore, my daughters,
follow cheerfully your Spouse in the way of Religious life,
and do not be discouraged if you find you are not all you
would wish to be, but humbly ask pardon of Jesus with a firm
resolve to correct yourselves; and have recourse to Him
with great faith and hope, because He is your Father
and your Spouse and is consumed, so to say, with the
desire to bestow graces on you. But He wishes to be en-
treated; therefore go to Him with great confidence and
doubt not that you will be heard, and take your saint as
your mediator, to pray to your and her Spouse for the
grace you desire. I beg you also to include me in your
petitions, that Jesus may do to me as is pleasing to His
Majesty. And I will continue, just as I am, to pray for all
of you who are or have been my dear children ; and I offer
you all to Jesus, that He may make you His true spouses
and fill you with His holy love. I have dictated all this to
my secretary, for I am not able to write with my own
hand, on account of the pain you know it gives me to
write. May God bless you all.

"Your Mother in Christ,

" SISTER CATHERINE DE' RICCI."

AND HER COMMUNITY 147

But it was not only to her spiritual children at San
Vincenzio that the saint gave instructions on the Religious
life. She had correspondence on the subject with members
of other communities, both men and women; and the two
following letters — given as good specimens of her style of
writing and her tone of thought — belong without any
doubt to this period of her first sub-prioress-ship.

The first is to one of two brothers, sons of a Bernardino
Rucellai, both members of the Dominican house at Fiesole.
To this house Fra Timoteo de' Ricci, Catherine's uncle,
was sent as prior in 1 547, which will account for the refe-
rence in the letter. We are told nothing about these two
young men — very probably friends of Catherine's family —
except the fact of their being at the Priory of Fiesole.

To Fra Damiano Rucellai, a novice at San Domenico of

Fiesole

"Dear Son in Jesus Christ (^c.), — I have your most
welcome letter, to which I will make a brief reply. Firstly,
I am glad to see you desirous of good, and fervent in
seeking Jesus, who is the beloved of all good Christians,
but still more so of Religious who give themselves wholly
to Him, forsaking themselves, especially their own will,
placing it in God's hands and in those of His prelate.
Then again, not caring anything for the body, how it is
provided for, but offering it a sacrifice to Jesus, who in
His goodness will not fail to accept it, and in exchange
for it will give Himself, who is the only good in heaven
or on earth. The blessed are satisfied with gazing on the
divine Majesty, and with continually thanking and praising
His infinite goodness, who is always giving new joys and
happiness, in heaven to the saints and on earth to the just,
for this offering of soul and body which they have made.
Now who would not willingly give to receive so much ?
So that, my dear son in Jesus, give yourself wholly to
Him, soul, body, and will, and He will give Himself to
you, as to a dear son. Imitate Him, then, in holy humility;
as you may contemplate Him in the approaching solemnity
of His holy Nativity, which shows forth His sacred humi-

148 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

lity. For He is the highest wisdom and of incomprehensible
greatness, and yet of His goodness has deigned to come in
such lowliness! Born in a stable, in the company of two
lowest animals, without any provision for His wants; but
with greatest humility He remained there with His gentle
Mother. Therefore, little son of Jesus, go this night and
day and visit that sweet Infant, praying His holy Mother
to give Him to you for a little space. And she will be
gracious to you and will not deny you; but you must be
humble, or you will not see Him. And when you have
Him, commend to Him my soul, and I will do the same
for you. Commend me to your father superior, and many
times to his prayers, and the same to our uncle the prior,
and to all your companion novices. I hold you as my son
in Christ, and am happy to accept you as such. So be of
good will, and be as good as possible. Assai, assai. I desire
nothing else, except to commend myself to you. And may
the sweet infant Jesus be with you.

" Yours, &c.
"December 16, 1548."

The second is simply headed

To a Nun

" Very dear daughter, — I have already sent you a letter
to exhort you to the service of our Lord; and now I send
you this one, in which I am going to give — first for myself,
and then for you — an account of the true way of faithfully
serving our Divine Spouse, and a resume of the spiritual
life; so that, by following it, we shall carry out the holy
will of God. If, then, my daughter, you would be the true
spouses of Jesus, you must do His holy will in all things;
and you will do this if you entirely give up your own will
on every occasion, and if you love the divine Spouse with
your whole heart, your whole soul, and your whole strength.
Then, you must carefully attend to the following points
(but it is necessary to weigh all these words), as they con-
tain the summary of Christian perfection:

" i. We must force ourselves to detach the heart and

AND HER COMMUNITY 149

the will from all earthly love; to love no fleeting things,
except for the love of God; and, above all, not to love God
for our own sakes for self-interest, but with a love as pure
as His own goodness.

" 2. We must direct all our thoughts, words and actions
to His honour; and by prayer, counsel, and good example
seek His glory solely, whether for ourselves or for others,
so that through our means all may love and honour God.
This second thing is more pleasing to Him than the first,
as it better fulfils His will.

" 3. We must aim more and more at the accomplish-
ment of the divine will: not only desiring nothing special
to happen to us, bad or even good, in this wretched life,
and thus keeping ourselves always at God's disposal, with
heart and soul at peace; but also believing with a firm faith
that Almighty God loves us more than we love ourselves,
and takes more care of us than we could take of ourselves.

" The more we conform to this way of acting, the more
we shall find God present to help us, and the more we shall
experience His most gentle love. But no one can reach such
perfection except by constant and courageous sacrifice of
self-will; and, if we would learn to practise such abnega-
tion, it is necessary to keep ourselves in a state of great
and deep humility, so that by perfect knowledge of our
own misery and weakness we may rise to learn the greatness
and beauty of our God. Consider how just and necessary
it is to serve Him unceasingly, with love and obedience.
I say just, because God being Father and Master of all things,
it is just that His son and servant should obey and love
Him: I say necessary, because by acting otherwise we could
not be saved. Let us always remember, never doubting,
that it is the eternal, sovereign, all-powerful God who does,
orders, or allows everything that happens, and that nothing
comes to pass without His divine will. Let us remember
that He is Himself that wisdom which, in the government

* O

of the universe — of heaven, earth, and every single creature
— cannot be deceived (He would be neither God nor most
wise, if it were otherwise). Let us look upon Him as
supremely good, loving and beneficent. If, through His

150 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

mercy, this conviction becomes strongly impressed upon
our wills, we shall easily take all things from His sacred
hand with well-contented hearts, always thanking Him for
fulfilling His most holy will in us; because, by acting thus
(with the help of His holy grace) we shall unite ourselves
to Him by true love in this life and by glory in eternity.
May He grant it to us in His goodness! Of your charity
pray for me, a wretched sinner, who commends herself to
you all.

" Your sister in Christ.
"November 18, 1549."

Such were the burning words of love for Jesus Christ
and for souls, and such the truly angelic tone of thought,
in which Catherine addressed young hearts consecrated to
God. It is not to be wondered at that, when they had for
some time watched the results of her first tenure of office
in the community, and when they considered all that she
had done, both inside and outside the convent, for the good
of souls even before this, the nuns resolved to entrust her
with full government on the first occasion that should arise.
An opportunity for her election came in 1552, just ten
years after the beginning of her miraculous ecstasies; and
she was then unanimously chosen prioress, to the delight
of all her fervent and zealous sisters.

We are told that the only sad heart in the community
that day was Catherine's own. She felt struck down, as with
a sudden blow, by this election. She found it impossible to
believe that she, whose one desire in life was for ever to
serve her dearly-beloved sisters in the humblest and most
laborious capacity, could be of the least use to them in the
one to which they had appointed her; and she was seized
with a fear of being unfit to take spiritual charge of the
simplest soul in the house. She poured forth her soul, with
tears and sobs, in complaints to her divine Spouse; she
remonstrated with her companions about the mistake they
had made; she complained to the superiors of the Order,
and tried to convince them of her incapacity and of the
harm she should do in the convent: she made, in short,

THE NUNS' CHOIR AT SAN VINCENZIO.

AND HER COMMUNITY 151

the genuinely humble protests of a saint in the face of
a dreaded honour. But such protests were not accepted.
Catherine's election was confirmed; and the superiors of
the Order formally intimated to her that she was to sub-
mit to the change imposed. She then obeyed; and the very
humility that had made her fear the responsibility now came
to help her in heartily accepting it. In both her unwilling-
ness and her acceptance she was completely in accord with
the doctrine of saints concerning perfect Religious obedi-
ence. This doctrine teaches, on the one hand, that there is
as much pride in refusing any honour or dignity imposed
by God, as there is in ambitiously desiring such when His
voice either opposes or simply does not call to it; and, on
the other hand, that whilst obscure, humiliating, or difficult
posts in Religion are to be invariably accepted with readi-
ness and joy, and even to be desired, the case is quite
otherwise with posts that give prestige or honour of any
sort. Where these are concerned, it as held that a certain
repugnance and instinctive aversion to the consideration
and homage that belong to such offices are not only legiti-
mate but desirable, even while responsibility is accepted
with hearty good-will under obedience.*

Without this repugnance, there could be neither dis-
interestedness nor humility; and hence it is that one of the
most salient characteristics of the saints, when occupying
honourable posts, is a certain melancholy spirit — that sad-
ness of the true "pilgrim and stranger" on earth — which
they keep so long as they are condemned to such positions.
St Catherine, throughout the whole forty years during which
she was kept in office as either prioress or sub-prioress,
experienced this holy sadness in a high degree; never feel-
ing the least complacency in her dignity, nor taking the
slightest repose from the incessant labours that it brought
with it. At each re-election, up to the one just before her
death, she went through the same anguish of soul that had
seized upon her the first time. When some of the nuns
were once so imprudent as to congratulate themselves in

* To desire superiority for the cares of office, other things being equal, is praiseworthy;
to desire it for its high position is criminal ambition; to desire it for the consideration it
brings is disgraceful egotism " (St Thomas Aquinas, in cap. xiii, slit Roma).

1 52 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

her presence on having voted for her, she spoke in a way
that made them repent. "Sisters," she said, in a deeply
sad tone, " if I had the choice, I would rather spend the
two years of prioress-ship imposed upon me in a narrow,
dark prison than in fulfilling its duties " — words which, as
her pious historian adds, are well worth meditation by any
inclined to forget the humility of their profession and to
long for cloistral honours.*

Catherine, then, had entered upon her office as prioress
in the early months of the year 1552. She was barely installed
when she heard of the death of her uncle, the venerable Fra
Timoteo de' Ricci, at Perugia. This man held a very large
place in her heart, little given as it was to clinging to earthly
affections; for in him she had found, when she left her
parents' home, the tie of blood, the likeness to her own
father, and the warmth of heart, which formed a natural bond
in addition to the triple spiritual fatherhood that he came
to exercise over her as man of God, priest of Jesus Christ,
and first guide of her soul. He it was who had been, so to
speak, her sponsor in the Religious life ; and who had after-
wards received all the confidences about her great spiritual
favours, and witnessed her extraordinary states. He had been
moreover, to her, what he was to every one in the convent
— the devout and austere friar, formed in the school of
Savonarola at Florence — the friar who, for more than twenty
years, had kept alive his Master's spirit in the Convent of
San Vincenzio, which was the honour of Tuscany and the
consolation of the Church. Of most generous nature, Timo-
teo de' Ricci was a man who won pardon for his defects of
character by his frank acknowledgement of them and his
speedy reparation. If — as was sometimes the case — he hap-
pened to wound people's feelings by the sharpness of his
zeal, he quickly regained their sympathy by the deep humi-
lity of his repentance. If, by misunderstanding for a time
his niece's heavenly gifts, he had bitterly grieved her heart,
he had afterwards still more bitterly lamented what he came
to look upon as one of the gravest faults, and the greatest
misfortune, of his life. For many years he had been humbly

* Razzi, lib. Ill, cap. iv, p. 108.

AND HER COMMUNITY 153

begging pardon of God for having offended Him in the
person of His spouse, Catherine; and he could only console
himself at all by actually becoming her disciple and spiri-
tual son. As a man of more than sixty years old, we find him
receiving, in the most docile spirit, even public lessons and
corrections from her whose master he had been ; and two
touching instances of his submission, recorded by Razzi,
may here be quoted as proofs both of what his natural cha-
racter was and of the generous depths of humility to which
repentance for his faults led him.

The first is assigned to April, 1 542, on one day of which
Catherine, coming forth from ecstasy, obtained an interview
with her uncle. She then advised him to put more gentleness
into the reproofs that he administered to the nuns, so as to
fulfil our Lord's injunction: "Learn of Me, for I am meek
and humble of heart." Fra Timoteo, having asked her how
she knew (she, of course, never being subject to them) that
his reproofs were too severe, as neither he nor the sisters had
ever spoken to her of the matter: " Ah! " she replied at once,
"and do you think that my Jesus draws me up above into
His presence without clearly showing me everything that
concerns the interests of mydearsistersPDon't deceive your-
self: His goodness leaves me ignorant of nothing that has to
do with my monastery." Then the good father promised
to keep her instructions in mind, and to do his best to
profit by them ; and he further begged her to remember
him in presence of her divine Spouse in her next ecstasy of
the Passion, and to offer his heart to our Lord for him. "1
will most willingly offer it," said the saint, "but you will take
it back again almost directly, will you not?" Such marvel-
lously frank language on the part of his meek and holy niece
to her revered uncle and spiritual father shows indeed what
clear knowledge she must have had of his extremely hasty
temperament; and the doubt she here expressed of the im-
mediate efficacy of her warning is justified by the second
incident we are to quote.

This happened a year afterwards, in April, 1543, on the
eve of St Vincent Ferrer's feast. The saint being rapt into
ecstasy in the church, in presence of her uncle and the united

i54 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

sisters, it was observed that one of her hands was outside her
scapular.

Now, beholding the sacred stigma on this hand, the nuns
— seized with tender devotion for the blessed wound —
pressed forward, by a sudden spontaneous impulse, almost
all together, to kiss it. Naturally, such an impetuous move-
ment of a large number could not take place without causing
confusion; and Fra Timoteo, seeing the disorder, and not
stopping to reflect on the good-will that had caused it, gave
way to his natural hastiness and began to reprimand the sisters
severely and even intemperately. But when, in his own turn,
he followed the nuns with the intention of devoutly kissing
the sacred wound, the saint — notwithstanding her state of
rapture — withdrew her hand and hid it under her scapular.
Then the good friar remembered all her warnings about his
harshness and hasty temper ; and, going aside into a quiet
corner, fell on his knees and wept so bitterly over his fault
that his tender-hearted niece took pity on him, and offered
him the hand she had withdrawn.*

This deep humility of Timoteo de' Ricci, however, in
nowise lessened his real grandeur and nobility of soul. His
fine character showed him truly akin to his niece in the super-
natural as well as the natural order; and it was his delight to
follow her to the sublimest heights of contemplation and re-
flection on the mysteries of God, and to pour forth his heart
like her in ardent love. It was in this spiritual relationship of
their souls that he most sharply felt the blow of separation,
when, in 1547, he was sent to be prior at Fiesole; and he
proved his regret by taking every possible opportunity of
visiting Prato to refresh himself by spiritual conversations
with Catherine. He is last heard of there in 1548, at the
saint's feet,drinkinginconsolation from her heavenly words.
Four years after this Fra Timoteo was prior of St Dominic's
House at Perugia, when — on the feast of St Peter, martyr
— Catherine was transported in spirit to his death-bed.
Whether she actually appeared to the dying man, as she did
to some people in the course of her life, or only supported
him by the power of her prayers, at any rate she had the com-
fort of helping him in his last moments.

* Serat. Razz;, lib. II, cap. x, pp. 72-73.

AND HER COMMUNITY 155

That same evening she assembled the sisters in chapter,
to announce to them the decease of her uncle, "who had
just died in the Priory of Perugia." In doing so, she freely
poured forth her tender gratitude for all that he had done
for her, and for the great services he had bestowed on their
convent ; and, after earnestly recommending his soul to
their prayers, ordered the suffrages of the community for
him to continue for several days. The nuns, surprised at these
communications, for which they were quite unprepared, care-
fully noted down the day and hour when they were made.
Some days afterwards, when the official news of the Father's
death arrived from Perusia, they were able to testify that
the moment at which their young prioress had called them to
chapter was the very same at which her uncle had breathed
his last.

On the 1 5th of the following May, Catherine fulfilled
the office of prioress towards another member of her family,
on a happier occasion. She gave the habit to her youngest
half-sister, in presence of Fra Angelo da Diacceto, the girl's
maternal uncle. Of thesaint's four half-sisters who were nuns
with her at San Vincenzio, this one — Lessandra — was the
only one to receive the habit from her hands, with the name
of Sister Lodovica. The three others had been clothed in her
presence, but before she was prioress: the first, as we have
already seen, in 1543, taking the name of Maria Benigna;
the second — Marietta — in 1547, as Maria Clemente; and the
third — Maddalena — as Filippa. All these young sisters of
the saint, with one exception, were fragile, delicate creatures,
destined not to finish their career on earth : called to the
cloister only, as it seemed, that they might die ignorant of
the world's evil. Filippa, Maria Clemente, and Lodovica,
fell victims to the same fatal disease — consumption — one
after the other, and all between the ages of sixteen and eigh-
teen. By the year 1555, their holy sister had seen their three
souls gently depart, herself receiving the last breath of each,
and, it is said, accompanying the liberated spirits to heaven
whilst she was in ecstasy. The convent chroniclers sum up
the sweet, peaceful lives of all these three young nuns in the
same words: TZuona e quieta sororal Sister Maria Benigna,

156 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

the first to join Catherine at San Vincenzio, was the last
whose eyes she closed, under circumstances to be mentioned
later.

As prioress, Catherine naturally became the light and the
counsellor of all the sisters in everything concerning the final
end of life in the cloister — that is, Religious perfection.
Though she was barely thirty years old, the oldest as well as
the youngest came and opened their hearts to her, as to a
mother, giving her their confidence fully and lovingly, as
her high sanctity inspired them to do. They well knew that
the "science of perfection" belongs less to the head than to
the heart, and that a holy soul who practises its generous
maxims understands its deepest mysteries better than a
learned man who has merely studied its principles intel-
lectually. They felt, in short, what St Thomas explicitly
teaches: that love surpasses knowledge, and is more perfect
than intellect; for we love more than we know; love entering
into man, while knowledge remains outside.*

Something of Catherine's mannerof instructing her nuns
may be seen in a little collection of her "Maxims" made
by her nuns. All show, like the letters given above, how
entirely her doctrine of Christian perfection was based on
the one great principle: God is: the creature is not. These
maxims are culled from such of her sayings to individual
sisters as were preserved by them, after having gone to her
for advice on various points, and are most practical; but the
form of teaching in which the saint specially shone was in
that of "conferences," or addresses, which she gave to her
daughters in chapter on the eves of great feasts. She is
described, on these occasions, as appearing at first shy and
confused, as if ashamed of what she had to do; for nothing
was so painful to her as speaking in public, being persuaded
of her own ignorance and incapacity. Then, she would in-
wardly submit to the Will of God, and begin her exhorta-
tion. After a few words, spoken with her natural grace and
simplicity, to introduce her subject, suddenly she would
be rapt into ecstasy; and from that moment voice and words
were purely supernatural. She spoke in the name of Jesus

* D. Thomas, in 4, dist. xlix, 9, I ; n. ex Hug., a. S. Viet, in 7, DC Celest. Hierarch.

AND HER COMMUNITY 157

Christ Himself; or else in that of the Blessed Virgin or

* O

some other saint; and — as in the case, already described, of
her great ecstasy — her language and voice took so com-
pletely the tone and accent of those whom she was repre-
senting, that the sisters, marvelling, seemed to hear the
very persons themselves speaking. The effect on their souls
may be imagined.

But, whilst thus winning admiration and confidence
from all around her, Catherine herself, in these first years of
her authority, was greatly troubled. The constant stir and
tumult, in and around the convent, produced by the con-
course of people — ever increasing — drawn thither by the
fame of her ecstasy of the Passion, filled her with holy sad-
ness. It was not, now, her personal humility only that was
alarmed : her conscience as prioress was roused by a dread
that all this external agitation and excitement might end in
seriously compromising the interior peace of thecommunity.
She saw that amongst her nuns minds and souls were being
disturbed, and that silence and recollection were no longer
protecting, as they should, the spirit of prayer. If, even as a
private Religious, she had formerly taken fright at the pil-
grimages to Prato on her account, how far keener was her
anxiety now that they bid fair to become a real disorder, and
that all the responsibility for them rested on her own shoul-
ders, as prioress! Her distress was deep, and she incessantly
mourned and sighed over it before God. Even amid her
ecstasies she was heard complaining of her trouble: " O my
Jesus! " she would cry, " deliver me from all this renown —
from all these outward appearances that Thou hast given to
the heavenly favours Thou bestowest on me! Let my poor
convent get back a little of its hiddenness and quiet! " Then,
thinking her own prayers not worthy to be heard, she at last
begged her nuns, with tears, to come to her help with their
merits and fervour, so as to supply her deficiences in the
sight of God.

Moved by her trouble, and also by the real inconveni-
ences that caused them, her superiors — the prior of St
Dominic's and the convent confessor — ordered the sisters to
fulfil Catherine's desire by sending up fervent prayers to God

158 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

until He deigned to hear them. From the day of this order,
for several months, that holy community perseveringly
raised supplicating arms to heaven that they might be de-
livered, as though from a public calamity, from the marvel-
lous ecstasy which was in truth the honour of Catherine, the
salvation of many souls, the light of faith to Italy, the admi-
ration of the world. Surely no holier or purer prayers ever
mounted to the throne of God, for never can there have
been more humble or disinterested ones; and they were at
last answered, for Jesus Christ was pleased to veil His own
glory and that of His spouse, in order to deliver the virgins
consecrated to Him from the crowds that invaded their
dwelling-place, and to grant them once more the solitude and
peace wherein they had lived with Him in old days.

In the year 15 54 all external signs of Catherine's ecstasy
of the Passion disappeared, though its substance remained
in the form of her close and tender inward union with her
Beloved. The worship of Jesus crucified remained the wor-
ship par excellence of her life, and was her special object of
contemplation every Thursday and Friday; but the drama
itself — the living scenes reproduced by her ecstasy, which
had so revived the faith of others — had done their work, and
never reappeared. People continued coming to Catherine,
as to an inexhaustible source of grace, light, and consolation:
she never ceased to be a means of edification and a mirror
of holiness to individual souls, but was no longer a sight for
crowds or a hindrance to the peace and quiet of her convent:
and the peace was needed, to leave her free for the cares of
government that she was to support for so many years.

AND HER COMMUNITY 159

CHAPTER XIII

St Catherine's internal government of her community — Her character as
prioress — Her standard of Religious life

A MONASTERY or convent is a small state, which attains its
true end only through the wisdom of whoever presides over
and guides its course. Let the laws and constitutions of a
nation be even ideally beautiful and high-minded, their suc-
cess must dependon the perfection of their practical working;
and we all know that the attainment of this perfection lies
in the hands of those placed at the helm. The pagan held
that divinity was concerned in the making of laws only; but
the Christian knows that God's intervention and help are
just as necessary in their application, and that the statesman
who would rule aright must daily bend the knee before his
Maker and ask Him, with Solomon, for the gift of that same
wisdom that presides over the counsels of the Most High
"to stay with him and work with him."*

What is true of a state is still truer of a Religious com-
munity. Though the people forming the latter are trans-
formed by a special grace not given to all men, they are none
the less human; and as the laws under which they live aim at
nothing less than at guiding them to advancement in the
superhuman ways of evangelical perfection, it is not to be
wondered at if opposition to such laws is found to be as strong
and as persistent in their hearts as in those of other men and
women. Hence it is that, if saints are needed to found
Religious orders, they are also needed for governing them.
Souls are required for this work to whom God might say,
as He did to Josue, "I will be with thee as I was with
Moses" ; souls at once brave, tender and utterly devoted;
knowing how to draw the sword for the good of their sub-
jects with one hand, and with the other to shield them

* Mitte illam de ccelis sanctis tuis . . . . ut mecum sit et mecum laboret" (Sap.
cap. ix, i o.

160 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

against their enemies — especially against themselves — and
so to secure their entrance into the promised land.

The sisters of San Vincenzio of Prato were happy
enough to be thus governed; and if it is true that commu-
nities— like peoples — always get the kind of government
they deserve, nothing could be more to their honour than
to have deserved that of Catherine de' Ricci for more than
forty years.

The fundamental condition of rightly governing a con-
vent is for the superior to realize in her own person the
ultimate end of its government, which is simply the perfec-
tion of Religious life. Besides the fact that she cannot
bestow what she does not possess, it would be both unbe-
coming and rash for her to have the honour of headship in
her community without also having the merits and virtues
of the position. Moreover, ordinary virtues will not suffice
her. She must have eminent and extraordinary ones, corres-
ponding to her dignity; for human nature will never keep
itself at even a moderately high level, unless a constant im-
pulse is given to it by the sight of a standard of generously
high perfection set by its rulers. A holy writer, Pere Dupont,
S.J., has said that a well-ordered Religious house ought to
be like the statue of Nabuchodonosor with the head of gold,
even though the rest of the body be made of commoner
material.

This was what St Catherine felt so profoundly when
the unanimous voice of her sisters called her to be their
prioress; and this feeling it was which caused her that ever-
recurring distress, already referred to, at each re-election to
office. However, she unhesitatingly took up the burden of
the highest perfection in every requirement of rule and con-
stitutions; and she so lived that one might have believed
that she incessantly heard echoing in her ears that saying
of the canon law: "The rule thou hast given to others,
take for yourself"* — so faithful was she to that principle.
She would have been ashamed of her title of prioress, had
she not been always and everywhere first in exactness and
fervour. Hence she was never seen deliberately to fail in the

* In Decret. lib. I, lit. ii, " Cum Omnes."

AND HER COMMUNITY 161

smallest matter; "and if, from weakness or inadvertence,
she ever happened accidentally to do so in some point of
slight importance — such as momentarily breaking silence,
or being late for an exercise — she regretted it so deeply that
she instantly gave public testimony of her repentance, even
to the shedding of abundant tears."* Not that she forgot
the fact that her rule and constitutions bound only under
pain of making satisfaction by corresponding penance, and
not under pain of sin; but that — besides her very high
esteem for perfection in itself — she felt so strongly about
the disastrous effect on the spirit of a community that might
result from the slightest transgressions of its prioress, one
infraction of rule on her part, perhaps, giving countenance
to a hundred committed by others.

As we might suppose, however, the saint's zeal for regu-
lar observance did not end with the setting of a perfect
example. She held herself just as strictly bound to prevent
negligence in her subjects as to avoid it herself; and she
went so far as to tell her nuns that " the slightest liberty she
was to allow them against the Rule would be in her eyes an
attempt against God Himself, that might provoke His anger,
compromise their salvation, and even bring about the ruin
of the convent as a final punishment." This was a sound
principle; for, in fact, apart from the chastisement that im-
punity in offending deserves from God, it contains in itself
the elements of inevitable decay. A community cannot pos-
sibly subsist unless correction incessantly keeps it alive, by
holding it back from the abyss into which daily faults are
perpetually tending to plunge it.f

From these motives, our holy prioress had made a rule
for herself never to let any fault, however small, pass unpun-
ished. She always imposed a penance proportionate to the
offence: keeping here, as in all things, the due measure pre-
scribed by her kindness as well as her justice. In the same
equitable spirit, too, she always gave her reproofs in the

* Sandrini, lib. II, cap. xxii, p. 222.

t Cf. Bossuet. "La peine rectifie le desordre; qu'on peche, c'est un desordre. Mais
qu'on soit puni quand on p6che, c'est la regie. Vous revenez done, par la peine, dans
1'ordre que vous eloigniez par la faute. Mais qu'on p£che impunement, c'est le comble
du desordre. C'est le desordre non de celui qui peche, mais (du superieur) qui ne punit
pas." — Meditations sur VE-vangile.

II

1 62 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

gentlest and most affectionate form possible, never losing
her serenity of manner, or letting words or voice betray the
least personal emotion. Both in reproving and in giving
necessary official commands, where an authoritative tone
was sometimes called for, she made it evident that no mere
human feelings influenced her, and that all her hatred of
faults and imperfections in nowise lessened her tenderness
and respect for those she had to correct. In fact, she really
never gave reproofs or penances without first asking and
waiting for light from the Holy Ghost, that she might
see things only as God willed, and use the words with which
He should inspire her. The consequence of all this was that
the sisters used to say among themselves that " They found
this difference between Mother Catherine's corrections and
those of other superiors — that hers remained permanently
fixed in their minds, whilst other people's merely passed
through them."

The saint used, further, to impress upon her subjects
the great benefit that doing penance for their faults would be
to them in the next world as well as in this, as she was sure
that it would spare them much purgatory, besides greatly
increasing their merits: so that, by insisting on the fulfilling
of penalties, she was doing them a great personal kindness.

In spite, however, of her strictness and her high views
of the matter, Catherine was delicately alive to the sensibi-
lities of her children, and extremely sensitive about not
inflicting any lasting hurt by humiliations. Hence, Razzi
says, she never allowed any sister on whom she had inflicted
a penance to go to bed without having first shown her, by
some specially affectionate word or deed, how truly she
loved and felt for her.

The two special points of rule as to which St Catherine
was most strict in her government were the Divine Office,
and the common communitylife in both spiritual or ascetical
matters and outward customs. With regard to the first of
these, a community in choir was in her eyes a portion of the
heavenly court assembled round the throne of the Most
High ; and — never so happy herself as in this little heaven
on earth — she could not bear to see a single empty place

AND HER COMMUNITY 163

there. That perfect exactness on this point was not always
customary in Religious communities of the day is clear from
the saint's being described as glancing round the choir at the
beginning of each " Hour " of the office, to see who were
absent, and then either going to fetch these herself or send-
ing for them in her name. Then, when all were assembled,
" she would exhort them to recollection and devotion during
this holy exercise, and forbid them to go out from it with-
out express leave."*

Neither was it of public prayer only that the saint made
a great point with her nuns. She counted it as part of their
vocation to cultivate the spirit of prayer generally, and this
practice of as much private prayer as possible, so diligently
that no other occupations should be allowed to hinder it ;
and, as far as might be, she even lessened the common manual
labour of the community so as to give more time for this :
so fearful was she lest, by slight practice of actual mental
prayer, the inward spirit of the hidden life of union with
God should be lost. This diminishing of active work at San
Vincenzio was a rather serious matter to undertake, for the
community there had always depended to a great extent on
the labour of their hands for their livelihood. It will be
remembered that one of Catherine's great attractions to the
convent, in her early days, had been the spirit of laborious
poverty that she found in the sisters; and, though the nuns
of Prato had nearly all come from rich and powerful Floren-
tine houses, in which work of any sort was practically
unknown to the women of the families, they had sedulously
kept up this spirit, sometimes even working so hard for
their bread as to carry their hours of labour far on into the
night. When Catherine became prioress, she saw that such
excessive work and anxiety for their livelihood as this could
not fail to injure the contemplative spirit, and she looked
round to see what means she could find of reducing it to
more just proportions. First, as usual, she turned to God
Himself, with earnest prayer that He would by some means
so provide for the bodily needs of her children that they
might be freed from all undue attention to temporal matters,

* Razzi, lib. Ill, cap. v, p. 112.

164 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

so as to turn their thoughts fully — as became His faithful
servants and spouses — to things of the soul. Then, by hum-
ble requests to her own relations (well-to-do in the world)
and to various rich people who — as we shall shortly see — had
by this time become her "spiritual children," she succeeded
in obtaining means enough for the community to exist in
decent comfort without any undue exertions for earning.
The only person in the house — so Sandrini says — whose
condition was not the least improved by any outward help
was the prioress herself. She remained in such utter desti-
tution of almost necessities, as to the furniture of her wretched
cell and as to all things allowed for her use, that the sisters
were often moved to tears of compunction when they left
her presence, as they reflected on the extreme poverty
that their mother insisted on practising herself, whilst so
anxiously providing for her subjects every convenience
consistent with the spirit of their Rule.

On the point of common community life, the saint was
almost as strong as on that of prayer; and by "common"
life is not here meant only work or recreation in common,
or a spirit of common fraternal charity, but the following
in all things of the general Rule and spirit of the Order, as
opposed to the setting up of a particular one in any matter,
and of desiring private permissions or dispensations. Her
strictness in this matter approached to sternness, and was
exercised in two opposite directions. On the one hand, she
was stern even to severity in refusing to dispense from
fasting and abstinence, or any other penance prescribed by
Rule, on the ground of slight ailments or mere general
delicacy of health. She held that there was no more certain
way for the evil spirit of relaxation to creep into a whole
community than for a prioress to be the least lax with indi-
viduals upon this point; and she even went so far as to allow
no one who was not ill enough to be actually in the infir-
mary to eat meat oftener than was prescribed by the Rule.
Even if a few suffered to some extent from this strictness,
she considered it better than for any risk of general laxity
to be run: and the same as to absence from choir, for which
she would never give leave on slight grounds.

AND HER COMMUNITY 165

On the other hand, the holy young prioress guarded her
nuns with equal care from an opposite danger: that of those
restive and usually proud spirits, to be found in almost all
communities, who wish to make rules of exceptional severity
for themselves, and to do extra and peculiar penances, or
to have special and unusual times of prayer, so as to be
different from others. She made ceaseless war on this abuse
of invading the domain of common usage by the intrusion
of private practices. Both in public addresses and private
interviews she most earnestly advised her daughters to be-
ware of entering on this course. " She exhorted them, speak-
ing as for God Himself, to do everything to avoid what
she called a fall and a misfortune, and would threaten with
divine chastisement any who should follow this way of their
own accord." She did not understand, she said, " how,
between people who had taken the same vows and who pro-
fessed the same Rule, there could be two ways of keeping it;
nor how, in a convent where there was no union in exterior
life, there could be harmony in the service of God."* No
matter under how specious an appearance of good — how
strong a wish for a higher standard — this desire for peculiarity
might show itself, she always vigorously denounced it as
" an odious, intolerable, and even diabolical vice." There is
a story told of her one night pursuing the devil in the form
of a creature that looked like a fox, holding a written paper
in his mouth, through the convent dormitories, until she
compelled him to give up to the paper to her. She could
not read it herself, but ordered him in God's name to tell
her the meaning of the words written on it; and the evil
one, before disappearing, told her it meant " to produce,
under the appearance of good, nothing but disorder and
scandals." This story is told by Razzi; and, whether literally
true or not, is in any case symbolic of the extreme horror in
which Catherine was known by her contemporaries to hold
this spirit of restless innovation on the common Rule.

It was not, however, only general light on the govern-
ment of the house that Catherine received from God, but
also particular and often very wonderful knowledge about

* Sandrini, lib. I, cap. xxxv, p. 116.

1 66 ST CATHERINE DE' RICC1

each of her nuns. It will be remembered that she had already
had the gift of reading hearts and learning their secrets;
and a story, belonging to this period, of how she exercised
the gift in the case of a young sister called Eufrasia Mas-
calzoni, is worth telling here for the naive picture it gives
of the daily interior of San Vincenzio and its community,
as well as for the supernatural side of it which throws
special light on the nature of Catherine's ecstasies. The
young nun in question was tenderly and devotedly attached
to the saint, and lived on terms of special familiarity with
her; but for some time she was slightly incredulous as to
the fullness of her miraculous powers. Now, one Friday
morning (it was, of course, before the cessation of the
weekly great ecstasy), walking in the garden, Sister Eufrasia
thought she would weave a beautiful wreath of flowers for
Sister Catherine, and thereupon gathered jasmine, stocks,
and other such flowers, which she then took with her into
the cell of a Sister Prudenzia Ginoni, who was lying in bed
ill and whom she was taking care of. Chatting to the latter of
her plan, she said that she meant to place her crown on the
saint's head whilst she was in ecstasy, but that she wished
her not to know by whose hand it was done. Sister Pru-
denzia reminded her that Sister Catherine, being most
closely united to our Lord in her ecstasy, would know
whatever happened by revelation from her Divine Spouse
without any need for another to tell her. This was just
a matter on which Sister Eufrasia was doubtful, so she
shook her head and made answer: "I do not believe that
when she is in a state of rapture, she takes notice of the
least thing we do in her presence."

At that very moment, Catherine, who was in her cell,
and in the midst of her ecstasy, suddenly interrupted it to
say to Sister Elizabeth Ferrini, who was there: "Go and
tell Sister Eufrasia, from me, to come here; for, as she has
had a fall, I will help her up." The sister took the message;
and Eufrasia, greatly surprised, declared that she could
remember no fall she had had, and knew not what the saint
meant. However, she finished her crown, in which were
five beautiful red stocks, in honour of the Saviour's five

AND HER COMMUNITY 167

wounds, on a groundwork of white jasmine flowers which
signified the purity which she ardently longed for. She took
this to Sister Maddalena Strozzi, who put it on Catherine's
head in memory of the Crown of Thorns. Next day, Eufra-
sia went to see the holy sister — now not in ecstasy — who
greeted her by saying pleasantly: "It was not of a bodily
fall, but of a spiritual one, that I wanted to speak to you
yesterday"; and then, smiling, began exhorting her to be
more believing in future about the gifts of God.

After the public ecstasy of the Passion had ceased, this
gift of reading hearts still remained with her, and one may
well understand what a marvellous help it was to her in the
guidance of souls. She constantly made use of it for helping
her nuns to correct interior faults of thought, or of desires
contrary to duty, about which she felt quite as anxious as
about exterior offences. Thus, during office, or any time of
general prayer in choir, if a sister happened to let her mind
dwell upon irrelevant subjects, the holy prioress would leave
her own place, go gently up to her, and whisper into her
ear — but always most kindly — that this was not the time
for thinking of such and such an object (which she named),
and that before God one should entertain none but holy
thoughts. The delinquents themselves used to tell the com-
munity these things: quite indifferent to their own credit
if they could add to the glory of their beloved mother; and
the saint's biographers have recorded the names of some
of the nuns to whom such incidents happened. One of
these, Sister Domenica Poccetti, tells how Mother Cathe-
rine came to her one day in church — she being then only
one of the pemionnaires educated in the convent — and
said to her: "Cornelia, my child, think about the prayers
you are saying with your companions, and not about the
new dress that your father has promised you. Don't wish
for these things that trouble the soul — desire instead to
put on Jesus Christ." Then, taking her by the hand, the
saint made her kneel down before a crucifix, and in a moment
her soul got back its recollection and devotion.

At other times than those of prayer, also, the nuns would
be warned by their ever-watchful mother of any thoughts

1 68 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

that were the least contrary to the law of God, and entreated
to reject them : for there was no place or occasion in
which she counted strict interior control to be unimportant.
There are many anecdotes of her exercise of this gift, but
the two just given will suffice as instances of her mode of
dealing with the definite faulty thoughts of her subjects.
Besides these, she often had light given her as to their feel-
ings and dispositions, and especially as to the greater or
less love and fervour with which they respectively received
the Holy Eucharist. Our Lord is said sometimes to have
shown her this, by appearing to her in the Sacred Host
held by the priest under the form of an Infant, whose
divine face changed its expression as the sisters went up to
communion — varying from a look of intense joy as some
approached, to one of even deep sadness for others. She
would use the knowledge thus gained for their spiritual
profit.

Two other details of Catherine de' Ricci's government
are dwelt upon by her biographers. One is the extreme
dislike that she had to the slightest affectation or worldly
conventionality in outward behaviour — whether in man-
ners, speech, or personal habits of any kind, including
over-nicety about clothes, which seems to have been a
weakness not uncommonly brought into Religious life
amongst her contemporaries. She could not endure her
nuns to keep anything approaching "society" ways in their
intercourse with one another, and made relentless war against
everything that was not perfectly simple, straightforward,
and sensible in conversation, having a horror — Sandrini
tells us — of all feminine affectations, which might pass for
pretty manners in the world, but which she thought utterly
unsuitable to their state and contrary to real humility.

The other point specially noted is that — to set against
her strictness as to conduct — Catherine's readiness to give
up her time, and her own personal convenience, to her
nuns, was almost without bounds. They might come to
her whenever they liked, and talk — reasonably or unreason-
ably— about themselves and their difficulties or desires, as
long as they liked. She never rebuffed them; and never got

AND HER COMMUNITY 169

either impatient or disgusted by any want of sense, or good
breeding, or consideration that they might show. Hers was
a large community, and like others in not lacking difficult
and trying subjects amongst its members; but difficulties
did not discourage the saint or cool her affection for those
who caused them. She acted in everything on the principle
set forth by St Francis of Assisi when he said to the supe-
riors of his communities: "Where your brothers are con-
cerned, be so easy of access and so obliging that they can
act and speak as if they were your masters and you their
slave; for to be the father minister (the superior) is indeed
to be the slave of one's brothers." The "slave" of her
sisters Mother Catherine truly was, meeting all their de-
mands so sweetly, brightly and lovingly, that it never even
occurred to them that they might be inconveniencing her
by the way they took up her time at all hours; and always
sending them away so truly sympathized with and so
marvellously well advised, that whatever griefs were op-
pressing them had disappeared, and their hearts had grown
calm and happy, when they left her.

In temporal matters, too, St Catherine was as much at
her children's service as in their spiritual or mental needs,
taking such trouble to get them any little things they might
want, or to give any little pleasure they might wish for, that
each sister felt as if she were the only person her superior
had to think about. In fact, says Sandrini, she really did
" love each of her sisters in particular as if she had been
her true mother " : so that her sympathy and desire for the
nuns' welfare was in no wise feigned, or merely ex officio.

Knowing all this, we are not surprised at the account
given of the saint's care of her subjects when illness was in
question. Directly she knew that any one was really ailing,
she went and found out for herself exactly what was the
matter and took the right measures for the case. She visited
the sick sister day and night, even if only to comfort her
by kind and affectionate words; and if there was any service
she could do for her was only too rejoiced to perform it,
for her own satisfaction as well as for helping the patient.
When the case was one that required watching at night, she

i yo ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

never failed to come two or three hours before Matins to
the sick-room, to send away whatever sister had been sitting
up, and take her place. She helped the sick, too, in other
ways than by her tender care for their bodies, sometimes
exercising actual miraculous gifts for their benefit. More
than once, we are told, when a member of the community
was stricken by some incurable complaint which would keep
her lingering on in terrible pain, the sisters begged their
prioress to ask of God that the sufferer's time on earth might
be shortened, lest she should be tempted to offend Him by
impatience or despondency. They knew that Catherine had
both granted their request and herself been heard, when
they saw her redoubling her attentions to the patient. In-
deed, in all cases of grave illness, the nuns were wont to
say amongst themselves: " Our sister has not long to live,
for the mother's visits are getting so frequent." When death
was actually approaching, the saint never left her daughter's
side at all; and now was the time when her most wonderful
help of all was given to their souls. As soon as a dying sister
was in her agony, Catherine entered into ecstasy, the better
to protect her departing spirit in its passage from this world
to the next by being herself the more closely united to her
Divine Spouse. Then, we are told, after having accompanied
the holy soul " to heaven or to purgatory," she came out
of her ecstasy, leant lovingly over the departed, and piously
closed her eyes; after which she helped the sisters in pre-
paring the body for burial and clothing it in the habit —
always making it her own special office to adorn the head
(doubtless, with the profession wreath) and to place it gently
on the pillow.

So invariably was this order of things carried out that
the sisters would never venture to believe that a dying
person had actually gone, so long as their prioress remained
in ecstasy ; and in that fortunate community the ordinary
ways of describing death — " She is no more," " She is
dead " — were unknown. They would beautifully say in-
stead: "Our sister has certainly gone to her heavenly
Spouse; for here is our mother, who went with her, come
back from the journey."

AND HER COMMUNITY 171

It will be seen from this account that, whilst delivered
by God from all supernatural states which could in any way
hinder the duties of office or prove injurious to the con-
vent's welfare, Catherine, as prioress, was still subject to
being publicly rapt into ecstasy whenever her being so
would profit or edify others ; and we find that, no matter
how completely her time seemed taken up, and her facul-
ties absorbed, in the work of practical business — of which
she transacted a large amount for the community in the
course of her government — these raptures never ceased to
occur at intervals throughout her life, so that she appeared
sometimes to be living the life of two saints in one; for she
worked with such untiring energy and burning charity for
the good of her neighbour, and with such success in her
undertakings, that one might have thought her called only
to the active life; whilst, in the midst of it all, her soul would
be caught up at a moment's notice into such complete
separation from all around her, and such close union with
God, as showed her to be a most perfect contemplative.
Amongst the occasions on which she continued to appear
in ecstasy one of the most frequent was that of a clothing.
This was a ceremony — commonly spoken of in her time as
the spiritual bridal — for which she had a particular affection,
and which she always did her utmost to make as bright and
cheerful as possible, inviting the friends of the novices,
providing the best fare she could for a feast, and in every
way entering into the celebration of the day as a mother
enters into that of her daughter's wedding ; but showing
how purely spiritual was her joy by the rapture into which
it rarely failed to send her. A story is related of one of these
clothings (date not given) which well illustrates both their
natural and supernatural characters. It is thus told by
Razzi :

One day, when they had given the habit to two young
sisters, both daughters of Antonio Neroni, a Florentine
gentleman, they had, according to custom, invited the
parents to eat a modest repast with the nuns. Towards
the end of this, the saint went herself round the tables,
distributing preserved fruits to the illustrious guests, when

172 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

she suddenly found that the bowl containing them was so
nearly empty that there would be nothing left for half the
community. Then, turning in her heart to one of her
greatest advocates with God, she begged Him to come
to her help ; and thereupon the fruits were miraculously
multiplied under her hand, so that all the sisters were
abundantly provided, to the great wonder of all present
who saw the prodigy. Many of the guests, indeed, kept
some of the miraculous fruits and took them to Florence.
But what charmed and impressed them most of all was to
see the saint finish doing the honours of her table in a state
of ecstasy; for "the presence of that angel on earth made
them taste such pure joy and delight that they forgot the
pleasures of earthly feasts."

As most people know, the superior of a Religious com-
munity washes the feet of his or her subjects on Maundy
Thursday. This was, again, an occasion which usually threw
St Catherine into a rapture. She would fall into this state
immediately on entering the refectory where the ceremony
was to be; would say a Pater noster, with crossed arms and
bent body, after which she signed a cross on the floor with
her thumb and respectfully kissed it; and would then pro-
ceed to wash the feet of the nuns — the eldest first — being
all the while in ecstasy. It is said that the sight of their
holy prioress, thus humbly kneeling at their feet whilst in
a state of supernatural union with her Divine Spouse, so
forcibly represented our Lord Himself to the sisters as
always to produce tears of deep love and compunction, and
at the same time to fill them with spiritual joy — the reason,
doubtless, that the yearly manifestation was granted.

Catherine, however, was very far from relying on purely
supernatural means for promoting evangelical perfection
amongst her children. None knew better than she did that

O

the gift of true contemplation is but to the few; and that
even those few cannot remain always on the heights, but
must come down at intervals to take breath, as it were, on
a more earthly level; and she was not above employing
simple and common means of satisfying ordinary human
needs, by taking the greatest pains to provide sensible

AND HER COMMUNITY 173

objects of piety for her community, in the form of pictures,
statues, and small altars and shrines in every part of the
convent. She held that even the most highly contemplative
souls needed at times to use such objects of devotion, both
as a temporary rest from mental effort, and as helps to-
wards making fresh starts in supernatural prayer ; whilst
to many they were the chief means of keeping alive holy
thoughts and suggesting heavenly images, such as should
strengthen and encourage them in their high vocation. She
is said, moreover, not merely to have covered the convent
walls at every turn with painted or sculptured portraits of
saints and martyrs, but to have taken great trouble to get
good ones; holding, she said, the best to be the most devo-
tional, "because they were the truest."* As to the little
chapels and shrines that she raised — which were not in the
house only, but in the garden and grounds — she liked
the sisters to make up for being prevented, through their
enclosure, from going on real pilgrimages, by treating these
as places of pilgrimage and visiting them with great devo-
tion to obtain special graces. Amongst all these shrines, the
one that she most liked to see used in this way — and which
was the object of her own chief devotion — was the "chapel
of the holy relics." Catherine's love for relics was so great,
that all her friends well knew they could give her no present
so pleasing as a fresh one of some great saint, and well-
authenticated; and it became in time a sort of emulation
amongst her friends outside, both lay and clerical, who
should get her the most and the best. They had them also
beautifully set — often in jewelled reliquaries — for her;
so that the chapel given up to them became really magni-
ficent in time, and the saint named it the "little Rome."
Towards the end of her life she is said to have collected
nearly three hundred relics.

Another shrine that Catherine greatly loved was an exact
imitation of the " Holy House " of Loreto, built against
a high wall in the convent garden. She got the model and
plan of this from a Monsignor Rossetti de' Ferrara — abb£
of a church in Orleans — who brought them with him on

* Sandrini, lib. II, cap. xxii, p. Z24.

174 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

his way back from Loreto, when he came to pay a visit to
Prato a few years after she was first prioress. He not only
gave the plans, but paid for the building of the little
sanctuary, whose walls Catherine had painted with the his-
tory of the translation of the Santa Casa and the miracles
connected with it.

Next to the direct duties to her community, the holy
prioress's chief interest and delight was the care of the poor,
towards whom she insisted on the practice of the most gene-
rous monastic hospitality. Her first act, after each fresh
election, was to give special orders to the portress sisters
on this point; she required that every poor person who came
to the door should be pleasantly received, and sent away
"satisfied in some manner" : i.e., if not with material help
— which might happen to be impossible — at least with the
assurance of sympathy and desire to help. She had such a
deep and genuine love and reverence for the poor and for their
condition that she liked, when possible, to make the bread
to be used for them with her own hands; and there is a
story told of how she once went into an ecstasy whilst
doing this, and how the whole batch of bread that she thus
made had a wonderfully delicious flavour.

Amongst the many cases of distress that Mother Cathe-
rine liked to relieve, none interested her more than those
of girls who could neither marry, nor enter convents if
they wished, for lack of the necessary dot. Throughout her
life she took the greatest trouble, by looking into their cases
and representing them to the rich, to settle such young
women in life; and she succeeded in making a great num-
ber happy, for both her relations and her numerous wealthy
friends, finding what an excellent use the saint made of all
alms bestowed upon her, seldom let her want means for her
charities. She received considerable sums from her uncle
Federigo de' Ricci, and from Giuliano and Alessandro
Capponi, amongst others; and a devout follower of hers,.
Tommaso Ginori, presented an important landed estate to
the convent, on condition that the income derived from it
should be entirely given up to the free disposal of Mother
Catherine during her lifetime.

AND HER COMMUNITY 175

We have now pretty clearly before us the salient features
of our saint's government, with its combination of strict-
ness, tenderness, practical sense, and use of supernatural
gifts in her daughters' service; and we do not wonder
when her biographer tells us that the effect of such a rule
was not only the attainment of high sanctity by this large
community of nearly a hundred and sixty souls, but the
bringing about of a deep peace, and a warm and tender
union of hearts amongst the sisters, that were most remark-
able. Some great lady, who knew San Vincenzio well, is
said to have declared that it "was not merely a cloister full
of holy maidens, but an assemblage of angels in human
form, and a living image of the heavenly Jerusalem."

One more trait only shall be given here, to complete
the picture of this favoured community, which seems to
have added to its real strength in holiness a certain quality
of natural grace and womanly charm peculiar to itself —
may be, in part, inseparable from the gracious country to
which it belonged.

The friendship that united these sisters, we are told by
Razzi, was so strong that it bound them together even at
the very portals of death. Some of them could not make
up their minds to depart to their divine Spouse until they
had bid farewell to their beloved sisters all together; and
they would have themselves carried on a small bed, when
nearly dying, into the community room, "that they might
kiss them all, one after the other." The actual names of
two who did this have been handed down — Sister Tecla
d'Antonio Neroni, an old nun confirmed in virtue; and
Sister Pacifica de' Guadagni, a novice of fifteen summers,
dying in her first innocence.

But beyond the momentary pang of parting, these
holy virgins had only joy for their own or their sisters'
departure, which they treated almost as a fete. Just as St
Francis of Assisi, dying, asked his sons to sing the canticle
of his brother the sun and his sister death, so, at San Vin-
cenzio, did the sisters gather round their companions'
death-bed to sing a devout lauda which they had themselves
composed as the canticle of their flight to heaven. The

176 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

words of the first verse of this lauda only are given to us,
and are as follows:

Diletta Soror mia, si appressa 1'ora
Che del andare allo Sposo immortale:
Metteti in punto, O Vergine decora,
E fa avere la vesta nuzziale;
Accio che possi comparir presente
Al convito del Re celestiale.

In short, such were the fervour and spiritual joy which
reigned in that strictly observant house in St Catherine's
day that two well-known Florentine ladies, who were allowed
to live there in retirement when they became widows, were
never tired of thanking God for having called them to
share in its holy pleasures. They used constantly to say
that "if people in the world could only know the blissful
life and the heavenly delights that those sainted maidens
enjoyed in their enclosure, there would be such a rush to
get in that the doors would not be large enough for the
crowd — they would have to get over the walls!"

Perhaps there are some who could vouch that similar
joys are not altogether unknown to fervent Religious com-
munities, even in the twentieth century.

AND HER COMMUNITY 177

CHAPTER XIV

Filippo Salviati and his Services toSanVincenzio — St Catherine's Influence
on and Correspondence with him

IT will be remembered that when Mother Rafaella daFae"nza
wished for a great saint for her community, she also wished
for a large church. This last wish was not granted in her
lifetime, its fulfilment being left to the saint given to her
prayers. Catherine, we have seen, had not scrupled to beg
for her convent where real necessities, and the freedom from
wearing and distracting anxieties, were concerned; but with
regard to matters beyond this, such as better buildings,
more space, or anything that could come merely under the
head of convenience or improvements, she never came for-
ward herself. She waited, for all such things, on Providence,
trusting to God to raise up friends able to provide them
without her asking when He saw good — a hope in which
the saints rarely find themselves disappointed, and which was
amply fulfilled in Catherine's case. The convent, when she
came to govern it, was both in great need of repair from
its age, and extremely inconvenient from the small size and
bad arrangement of its buildings; and, amongst other needs,
the " large church " was a great one. It was, however, to
be provided before long; and the history of its building is
associated with that of a family whose connection with
Catherine is to form the subject of this chapter.

Readers will not have forgotten the miracle worked by
the saint's prayers in the year 1543, on Maria, wife of
Filippo Salviati, a first cousin of Cosmo de' Medici, whose
mother — Princess Maria Salviati — was Filippo's aunt. The
Salviati family, though so closely related to the reigning
house, were by no means great upholders of the Medici
supremacy; and they had even lived — in the days of Filippo's
father, Averardo — for some time as exiles from Florence,
at Bologna, sharing with other exiles the fallacious hope of

12

178 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

freedom for their city by means of the French. When Filippo
became head of the house, he returned to Florence, but kept
out of politics, and lived chiefly on an estate of his called
Valdimarina, half-way between the city and Prato. When
the miracle in question took place, he went with his wife
Maria to San Vincenzio, to return thanks for her recovery;
and it is noted, as a little instance of his unwillingness in
those days to spend money on anything but his own com-
fort or happiness, that whereas he sent ten crowns to the
convent when he asked Sister Catherine to pray for his
wife's cure, there is no record of his having given one scudo
as a thanksgiving — even though his visit to Prato must have
made him an eye-witness of its extreme need.

Filippo Salviati is described as a man who, without
being the least actively bad in any way, was, for all the earlier
part of his life useless in his generation and anything but
a brilliant example to his neighbours, from being so en-
tirely wrapped up in his own concerns that he never looked
beyond personal interests. He was extremely rich, and
extremely fond of all the conveniences and refined pleasures
that riches bring; and to the cultivation of this kind of
happiness he devoted himself, counting it quite a sufficient
sacrifice to virtue that he refrained from injuring anyone.
In short, he seems to have been a kind of Dives, but with
the merit of warm family affections, as was shown by his
passionate grief when his wife's life was in danger. He was
not, however, destined to the end of Dives — he was to be
the subject of miracles of grace.

The visit to Prato in 1 543 seems to have had no effect
on Filippo beyond rousing a superficial feeling of admira-
tion and devotion for the saint whom he there saw for a
short time through the grille. He talked a great deal about
her, and expressed much curiosity as to the various marvels
that were reported in connection with her ecstasies. His
faith, however, is said to have stopped short at the account
that was by-and-by brought from Prato of Catherine's mystic
espousals, he declaring it impossible to believe that a human
being, however holy, could receive an actual ring in pledge
from Jesus Christ, no matter how close might be her spiri-

AND HER COMMUNITY 179

tual union with Him. Of this doubt, we are told, he was
cured by a miraculous vision. Catherine appeared to him
in his sleep, all radiant with light, and smilingly showed
him on her finger the brilliant ring of her mystic betrothal,
which she held out for him to kiss. Then she said, "To
show you to-morrow that this was no mere dream, I am
going to make you feel its truth by pricking your lip,"
and forthwith pressed the ring on his mouth, when Filippo
felt a sharp sensation like a diamond piercing his lip. The
pain of it lasted for several months, and he used to say that
" it would have been better for him to have believed at once
than to have been convinced in this way, but that still he
was rather glad than sorry for what had happened." *

This supernatural visitation, however, by no means com-
pleted Filippo's conversion to a less selfish life. He remained
for a long time still indifferent to the needs of the poor,
and unwilling to part with his wealth, and did not even
think of helping the community containing the saintly
virgin who had thus been sent to strengthen his weak
faith. It does not appear to be known when Filippo was
first so strongly touched by grace as to have his conscience
roused to his many sins of omission in respect of charity
to his neighbour, though it is conjectured that this must
have happened not very long after his vision ; and that a
kind of fear, lest more spiritual demands should be made
upon him than he felt prepared to meet, was the cause of
his breaking altogether with San Vincenzio, personally, for
more than ten years from the time of his first visit there.
However this may be, it is certain that he is heard of no
more in connection with the convent till the year 1553,
when a fresh miracle was vouchsafed to prepare him for the
work he was destined to do for it, during which interval
he lived in the same comfortable retirement as before,
changing his place of abode, as the fancy took him, from
one to another of several magnificent villas that he possessed.

In 1553, France declared war against the Republic of
Siena. This outbreak threatened Florence and its neigh-

* Pere Bayonne gives this story without referring, as he usually does, to one of the
Italian biographers, and mentions no source for it. We therefore do not know on what
authority it rests, but have retained it for its own beauty.

i8o ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

bourhood with great disturbance, from the passage of the
French army with its various attendant circumstances; so
Filippo — true to his principle of avoiding all upsets of his
own peace and comfort — decided to go off to Bologna,
where he could live quietly and remain neutral. His wife
appears to have remained at home with some of the children
(they had two sons and some daughters), as we are told only
of his taking with him his youngest son Averardo — quite
a child — two friends, a chaplain, and some servants. They
started from Valdimarina, taking a route over the Apennines,
on a December day which was quite clear and fine when
they set out. But they had hardly got into the moun-
tains when the weather changed, and they were so hindered
by snow that they could hardly get on; and when at last
they reached the little inn which was to be their stopping-
place, they were kept there four days by stress of weather.
Then it cleared, and they started again ; but suddenly the
sky was overcast, the snow began to fall afresh, thick and
heavy, and there arose such a hurricane of wind as was said
hardly ever before to have been known in the spot they
had reached — a precipitous peak of the mountains called
Giogo. The tempest was so violent that the little party of
people got separated, and lost sight of each other in the
darkness and blinding snow; and Filippo was in terror lest
he should lose his child. Then, in his fright, he called
earnestly upon God, and made a vow on the spot that he
would do whatsoever his Maker asked of him, if only they
might all get safely out of this danger ; and he afterwards
declared that he had heard, through the din of the storm,
a voice distinctly say: "A church at San Vincenzio — a
church at San Vincenzio! " Immediately afterwards he found
his child and all his friends near him, safe and sound; and
very soon, the sky clearing a little, they saw a shepherd's
hut within reach, where they were able to shelter and rest
till the wind subsided and let them go on their way. They
reached Bologna that night, and offered fervent thanks for
their safety.

Filippo's heart appears to have been finally touched and
changed by this occurrence; but he was detained at Bologna

AND HER COMMUNITY

181

for two or three years, and in other ways hindered; and it
was not until three years after Catherine's first election as
prioress, 1557, that he appeared once more before the
convent grille, to renew his acquaintance with her, to tell
her himself the history of his full conversion, and to con-
sult her on the immediate carrying out of his project.* He
made his plans and preparations so quickly that the founda-
tion stone was laid on April 5, 1558, the feast of St Vincent
Ferrer, patron of the convent.

The sisters, who had known, in common with other
people, the former character of Salviati for parsimony with
regard to his neighbour, had convincing proof of his
thorough change in the magnificent scale on which he pro-
vided materials of every kind for the building of their
church, and the large size that he determined to make it.
The whole community, with characteristic simplicity and
affectionateness, took him straight to their hearts, and
looked upon him henceforth as a real father to whom they
could never show gratitude enough. Catherine, however,
whilst sharing this filial attitude towards Filippo, was not
satisfied to stop short at grateful affection: she must carry
on the conversion of heart in which God had already made
her an instrument to the highest possible degree of perfec-
tion, and must have her benefactor for a spiritual son as well
as for the father of her community. How she fulfilled this
task is shown in what remains of her correspondence with
Filippo, which consists of twenty-four letters written within
a period of little more than a year — from the latter half of
1560, throughout 1561, whilst the church was in progress.

The small selection from these letters, to follow here,
will speak for themselves; but, before giving them, it will
be convenient to say something shortly about the chief
people often mentioned in them by name.

The Mona Maria so often referred to is, of course, Maria
Salviati, Filippo's wife; who, though only messages and not
letters were sent to her, was a great friend, and did many

* It seems clear that, though absenting himself for so long from Prato, Filippo had
laid no restriction on intercourse between his family and the nuns: as will be seen, one
of his daughters was actually a novice in the convent before his own return there.

1 82 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCJ

kindnesses to the convent: amongst others, entertaining the
lay-sisters and the young lady alumnae at the Villa Valdima-
rina in the holidays. Sisters Maria Filippa and Fede Vittoria
were Filippo's daughters, "in the world" Nannina and Cas-
sandra. The former had been clothed in 1556: the history
of the latter's reception is given in the first letter below. Of
Sister Maddalena Strozzi enough has already been said; but
special mention must be made of the Sister Bernarda, so
often named in Catherine's letters to other people as well
as to Salviati. Her secular name was Selvaggia Giachinotti,
daughter of a Bernardo Giachinotti of Florence, and she was
professed in 1 544. She was a very holy nun, and a very
great favourite with the people outside the convent ; but
what causes her to play so large a part in the saint's corre-
spondence, and to be so closely associated with her work
as superior, is that she was " Syndica"* of the convent for
more than thirty years, and hence had everything to do with
money matters, alms-giving, and all external business. This
will explain the kind of allusions, whether playful or serious,
so often made by her.

Sister Maria Jacopa, also spoken of in the letters, was
a Lucrezia Cini, who had belonged to the community since
1538. She was specially intimate with Catherine, who greatly
esteemed her, and is noted in the history of Salviati for having
been the person to whom he confided (in a letter) the account
of his mysterious "call" during the storm in the Appenines,
as well as other graces that he received through the saint
in the course of his life. Some of Filippo's letters to Jacopa
Cini are largely quoted in Razzi's "Life" (Book I, chap. ix).

These are the people to whom reference in the following
letters is frequent enough to make special mention of them
desirable; for less important names the reader may be re-
ferred to notes. The only thing remaining to say about the
letters now to follow — and which applies to all future corre-
spondence as well as to that with Salviati — is to remind
readers that whenever Catherine speaks of somebody else
as "Mother Prioress" this means that she herself is, for the

* This office is called in English communities by different names, as well as by that
of Syndica : e.g., Procuratrix, Econome, Dispenser : according to the custom of the order j
but in all cases it practically means " housekeeper."

AND HER COMMUNITY 183

time being, su ^-prioress, for the reasons given in a former
chapter.*

"Most honoured and dearly-loved Father, greeting !f
"Two days ago, I wrote you what was necessary about
Cassandra : that is, that she had rather you would leave her
here until she sends you notice; so that, in talking to her
yesterday evening, I said : ' Cassandra, I am afraid that, as
your father has been asked to leave you here, if we say
nothing more to him he will suspect something, and come
to fetch you as soon as possible.' She replied : 'I would on
no account have him come for me yet. As to becoming a
nun, I wish to do so; but I don't wish to speak about it to
the sisters without having told him first.' Then I said :
*I don't think he will let you do it.' cAnd I,' she answered,
* believe that he will let me do what I please; but I would
rather not go home so soon, so as to have too many struggles
there, especially with Lucrezia.' She also told Sister Maria
Pia J that she has determined to be a nun, but one can see that
she wants to stay here just a little longer, so as to strengthen
her soul, and also that she wants you to be told first of her
resolution. Therefore, if you can leave her to us for another
eight or ten days, I should think it a great advantage.

"Be sure, my dear Father, that nobody here has ever
said one word to influence her : she has been allowed to see
everything connected with the Order, and with our obser-
vances, and we have noticed that she has paid great atten-
tion to it all; but the fact of her desire comes from Jesus
Himself; He would have that soul entirely. I want, then,
to encourage you not to take it from Him; for certainly you
will have more real satisfaction in giving your daughter to
our Lord for His own, than you would in refusing her to
Him only to give her to a mortal spouse, subject to all the
miseries of this life. Even if some fuss should be made
about the matter, you ought not for that reason to act against

* Chap. xix.

t This is Catherine's mode of beginning all her letters to Filippo Salviati. She like-
wise always signs herself as his " daughter."

£ Sister Maria Pia was the daughter of a Giovanni S?lviati, and appears to have been
a niece of Filippo's. Lucrezia — mentioned more than once in the letters — must have
been Cassandra's sister, though we are not told so.

1 84 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

your duty; for as you know, the things of God must always
meet with opposition, especially when they clash with earthly
plans. I think it would be well, when you come here, not
to let Cassandra see that you know anything, but to let her
be the first to speak, so as to give you her confidence sponta-
neously. Moreover, I think myself that you had better not
discuss the matter with any one : but this I must leave to
your own judgement. We do not forget, here, to pray that
all may be ordered by our Lord for both your daughter's
salvation and your satisfaction.

" Mother Maria Maddalena (Strozzi), from fear of you,
sent you word yesterday that I had an attack of fever ; but
do not think I am ill, as, to judge by present symptoms,
the fit has passed and I do not think it will return.

" My best greetings to you, to Mona Maria, and to all.
May God keep you !

"Mother Prioress* commends herself to you,
"Your daughter,

" SISTER CATHERINE DE' RICCI.
"Prato, July 4, 1560."

"I have received your most welcome letter. . . .

"You tell me you do not feel well, and I quite believe
it although I do not see what can be done. I would however
remind you that we shall, hereafter, have to give an account
for our indiscretion as well as for our superfluous care of
ourselves. I wish that you would not do things beyond your
strength : you will injure yourself irreparably. For instance
you ought not to have gone from here. You were told so
often enough, but you only answered: 'Whether it snow, or
whether it hail, go I will.' It is useless to argue with a man
who has made up his mind, and you were determined to go,
come what might .... although I was very sorry to hear
it and would, had I been able, have kept every drop from
falling on your dear head. But you would not obey me who

* " Mother Prioress," then, was Sister Margherita di Bardo, a nun who filled that
office many times at San Vincenzio. There is no more correspondence on the subject of
this letter, so doubtless Salviati came over and settled it all in person. Cassandra was
clothed five months later — on November n, 1560 — "in Margherita di Bardo's fifth
Priorate," taking the name of Fede Vittoria. She lived till 1624..

AND HER COMMUNITY 185

am so full of good wishes towards you. Then came your
carriage accident and your difficulty in getting home. Surely
it would have been more pleasing to Jesus had you remained
at home instead of going whither you went. I do not mean
that He is displeased if we suffer in doing right for love of
Him : on the contrary, this is most acceptable to Him as
long as we keep within the limits of prudence and reason.
We shall nevertheless be judged for indiscretion, but on this
point I will say no more.

"Here we are at nine o'clock on Tuesday evening, and
I think you must have ended your day and gone to rest.
I assure you that this weather is most unfavourable to your
health, so I beg of you to be content to take some care
of yourself at least until the middle of April. Do this for the
love of Jesus and for the sake of your daughters and in
order to gain time during which you may work for God, for
this indeed ought to be our aim.

"The jubilee has passed and we thank Lorenzo for it:
I am very glad to have had it.

" I do not know how to express myself more clearly about
the cell than I have done in my other letter. Sister Fede
Vittoria prefers it small and does not think of the objection
which I pointed out to you, viz., that in stormy weather she
is frightened and must have a sister with her, and it would
not be agreeable for two to remain for some days in a small
cell until she be reassured .... But if you will make it
as you think best, all difficulties will be at an end.

"I have received the wine and some of it was given me
at collation last night after I had read your letter, for my
throat had swollen very much on hearing of your troubles.
But your news was so bitter that I could not taste the
sweetness of the wine. However this morning I found
it sweet, and I thank you for it.

"Last night and this morning I remembered you and
offered to Jesus your body, soul and heart, your memory,
understanding and will. They are like six water pots and
I implored Him to change their water into wine. I prayed
that, as wine purifies and preserves, so your mind may be

1 86 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

purified from all that disturbs it and your good will pre-
served by means of good works. I beg of you to be likewise
mindful of me and to pray for me.

"I commend myself to you, and so does Mother Prioress.
Mother Margherita and Sister Maddalena also wish to be
remembered to you, and the latter sends a greeting likewise
to her Toto.*

" I think I will send Niccolino to see you, for I shall
not be happy until I hear that you are well after your
misadventures.

"Troto, Jan. 6, 1561."

// propos of this conviction that "we shall be judged for
for our indiscretions," Catherine tries to restrain Salviati
from what was clearly an exaggerated tendency to austerities,
in other passages of her letters. She says once, for instance,
" Religious, who live separated from the world, having
neither business nor family obligations, are bound to lead
a much more mortified and rigorous life than others. But
you, who, being the head of a great house, have the care of
a family upon you, ought to be very prudent about preserv-
ing your life and health: not for the sake of enjoying the
pleasures of this world, but that you may properly support
your family and train up your children as true Christians."

And, again, she writes : " Now that you are at Florence,
I fear nobody will think of giving you broth and biscuit for
supper; and therefore I send you a basket of chestnuts, so
that you may eat at least four every evening. I would remind
you that Jesus wishes us to keep the mean, not the extreme, in
our lives; and to use reasonable human methods of preserv-
ing health. . . . We are not to aim at dying but at living
to do good, and so to honour and glorify God in ourselves.

" I understand that you go to hear sermons and like
them. I wish that instead of going for them to St Peter's

* We are not told in the correspondence who " Toto " is, but he doubtless must have
been Salviati's son Antonio, then a boy. He and his brother, Averardo, inherited their
parents' intimacy with Catherine, and some of her letters to them, after Filippo's death,
are preserved.

AND HER COMMUNITY 187

you would come here. But I should not like the distance to
be a trouble to you, only an additional merit. If you came
here we might meet when it was convenient. I look forward
to the day when we shall see each other, not at St Peter's,
nor here, nor at Florence nor Prato, but in heaven, in the
fruition of Jesus and His holy Mother and the whole
celestial court.
"¥eb. 12, 1561."

" I have received your most welcome letter, or rather,
your two most welcome letters. It gave me great pleasure to
hear of your well-being and to know that one of my desires
had been accomplished, which Sister Bernarda had also
thought of. Yesterday when at table the gospel of St Mat-
thew was being read, we came to the passage in which a poor
woman puts a mite into the treasury of the Temple wherein
all the rich people had some days before placed contribu-
tions, according to their means, either as alms or as tribute
money. Our Lord, turning to the crowd tells them that the
poor woman alone shall have a reward because she has given
of her necessity and parted with her all, whereas the rest
have contributed out of their abundance. When 1 heard this
sentence I at once thought of my father, and wondered how
our Saviour's praise might be bestowed also on him. And
now, to my great joy, I see by your letters that my desire
has been actually fulfilled, for the supply of wood has been
such an expense to you as to put you to great inconvenience.
O my dear little widow ! how delighted was I to see that
Jesus had not suffered my father, like the rest, to place his
superfluities in the treasury, but, in order that his work
should not be vain, had allowed him, with the widow, to
give of his necessity ! Thus, my dear little widow, you
will share the reward of the widow in the gospel, and this,
had you given of your abundance, you could not have done.
See, dear father, how God allows all things for the best: He
has permitted you to find this wood, and knowing that you
would willingly make an offering to His treasury, He has
suffered you to feel this inconvenience in order that you
may have greater merit. These, my father, are mysteries at

1 88 ST CATHERINE DE* RICC1

which you ought to rejoice. God will not fail to repay you an
hundredfold in heaven, and even here, and I beg of Him to
allow you to gain in some other way that so it maybe evident
that He intends you to do this work and to build for Him
this house wherein He will, in the most Blessed Sacrament,
abide for ever, and be honoured by unceasing prayer. I do
not think you could do anything more pleasing to Him,
especially as, in addition to this work, you have made so
many improvements in the whole house.

" When you say that God would not allow David to
finish His temple, you must remember that those were
matters wherein Holy Scripture had to be fulfilled. I hope
that David will not trouble you, but that my dear little
widow will be of good cheer, and that we may always be able
to give to Jesus, not out of our abundance, but with our
whole heart. Who would ever have thought that my beloved
father and son would have had this example ? You believed
yourself to be a shepherd, and lo, you are likewise a widow.
Jesus does all things for your good, and, because He desires
you to be wholly His own, and gives you opportunities of
doing His work for His sake, in order, at last, to give to
you in return that beautiful palace in heaven which the
apostle Thomas promised to a certain king. I rejoice and
have rejoiced at all that has happened, not because I wish
you to be put to inconvenience, but because in this matter
I recognize, in a manner that fills me with gladness, the
goodness of God, for which I thank Him. I will conclude,
as it is six o'clock in the evening and the sun is excessively
hot. . . . Sister Bernarda desires, together with Sister Mad-
dalena, to be remembered to you; and the latter also thanks
you for your advice and sympathy, and sends a greeting.

" June 10, 1561."

Written to Valdimarina^ where the sisters and girls from San
frincenzio were then staying

"I have received your welcome letter, but did I notthink
that there was some of your sister Bernarda's mischief in it
I should be vexed at it. To tell you the truth I do not be-

AND HER COMMUNITY 189

lieve that you mean what you say when you tell me of such
grievances, for I know that I never more heartily wished
you well than I do now and I have never had a moment's
disturbance on account of you. It seems to me that you have
done more for our brethren than their own father would
have done. Now as I know that my feeling towards you
has not changed, but is as undoubted as when I impressed
upon you the duty of desiring to please our Lord and to be
wholly His, I would fain think that in what you say you
are speaking not in earnest but in jest. . . . But, my father,
if you should indeed have such an idea in your head, I beg
of you to dismiss it, for it is utterly groundless. God knows
how heartily I wish you well and how constantly I pray to
the holy angels and to your guardian angel to give you a
place in heaven. But if you have any doubt on the subject
they will make all clear to you during this festival. When
my dear father was alive I do not think that I ever forgot
him or ever thought of him without wishing him this same
happiness. Jesus has given you to me to be to me both father
and son, could I be so mistaken as to esteem lightly that
which it has taken me so many years to obtain from God ?
Would such be your conduct? I think not; and, even were
you to act so, I most certainly should not. Never will I let
go of your soul; be sure of that, my naughty friend. This
must suffice without an oath, for I must not be long as I
have taken Sister Bernarda away from the washing,* and
she says that the sun is very hot, for it is late, ten o'clock
already.

" I am happy to hear that the sisters and the children are
well, for I love them as long as they are good. I am still
more glad that you are sending them back to-morrow or the
next day. I shall regret it very much if, as I fear, they have
given you trouble. You have an opportunity of sending
them to me and you will see how gladly I shall make the
exchange. Say this to Mona Maria, and make my excuses
to her for sending her such a number at a time, as if she had
not children enough already. I thank both you and her for
the very great enjoyment which you have given them. . . .

* i.e., to write for her: Sister Bernarda acted sometimes as the saint's secretary.

1 90 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

Mother Prioress and Mother M. Maddalena desire to be re-
membered to you: they say that Toto must not be left behind.

"I would have sent Salvadore with the mule for the
children, but as you forbid me to do so I will obey you. I
will expect them at the hour you mention. . . . Farewell.

" September 24, 1561 ."

In reply to some spiritual troubles, and doubts about his salvation,
communicated to her by Filippo. . . .

"I would remind you, my dear Father, that when the
man who owned io,coo talents asked his Master to forgive
his debt, he did not beg the favour for 9,000 only, but for
the whole sum. If this debtor had not acted afresh with hard-
ness and cruelty he would have had nothing to fear about
the past debt, as it had been fully and freely remitted; and
his Lord would have been actually offended if the servant
had not believed simply in the pardon granted to him. . . .
Hence I conclude that, although it be a great error to count
presumptuously on oneself, we nevertheless greatly offend
the mercy and goodness of God by distrust. We know
that He is very generous: that He became man and suffered
a painful passion and death to deliver us from all anxiety
as to our salvation; and that, by these acts, He has opened
heaven to us, provided we do not ourselves turn in the
opposite direction. In the latter case, there can be no un-
certainty, as most assuredly he who does not act according
to the law of Jesus cannot reach heaven, any more than a
man who takes the road to Pistoja when he wants to go to
Florence can expect to arrive at Florence ! But, so long as
he takes one of the three roads that lead to Florence — even
though he may find he has taken the worst one, with a good
many bad bits that will hinder him — if he gives his horse
the rein and goes on steadily, he may expect certainly to get
there at last. So one may find in the right way to heaven
many hindrances that are serious obstacles; but for these
there is the remedy given by Jesus : namely, to walk by the
light that will lead us safely, and that light is holy faith. If
we will only walk with our eyes fixed on this, we shall see
before us a road, clear, level, beautiful, and very pleasant to

AND HER COMMUNITY 191

walk upon; shaded, too, by the green leaves of hope, planted
with the flowers of holy longings, and abounding in the fruits
of good works. By following this road, we shall go straight
to our true home. Hence, whoever yields to fear or dread
on this way insults his Lord and Master, or that Master's
representative who acts as His guarantee. Of course, when
you say that you have kept back something to tell me >/>#
>0£<?, I am writing partly in the dark; but I can safely assure
you that, when we have once plunged thoroughly into that
fiery furnace [of sorrow and penance] all our spots and stains
are consumed. . . . What use is it then, dear Father, to be
afraid ? Of what use, I repeat, except to make us lose time
on the way, and walk with but little fervour towards Jeru-
salem. So let us drive away fear, and put in its stead holy
hope : but a hope without presumption, and founded on the
goodness of God, not on our own merits.
"October 2, 1561."

Written to Valdimarina

" I know that Sister Maria Maddalena has written fully
to you about me in the letter which she sent you this morn-
ing by a labourer. She has told you that my fever came
on last evening with great intensity, accompanied by head-
ache and violent sweating. It lasted all night until past seven
this morning, but to-day I seem to be better than I was on
Friday morning. Now however it is nearly nine o'clock in
the evening and I am beginning to have the same inflam-
mation that I had last night. I do not know whether it is
a symptom of the return of my fever. But it is a slight thing,
and I am in good hopes that by the help of Jesus I shall
soon be well, especially if you will come to see me when you
can. One good sign of my improvement is that whereas
hitherto I have not been able to think of anything con-
nected with my work, I am to-day building little castles in
the air about flax spinning. Sister Maddalena laughs and
tells me that a doctor told her in another illness of mine
that when I began to think about certain things it was a sign
that nature was beginning to be freed from sickness and to
return to its normal state. I tell you this for your satisfac-

192 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

tion, and because I do not wish you to be any longer uneasy
about me.

" I am glad that Antonio * gave you so much satisfaction.
As you have been sitting up so late (and I guessed as much)
I was wise to send to you this morning to bid you go to bed
early to-night.

" I, my dear father, am kept under such strict obedience
that sometimes I lift up my head a little to see whether I be
alive at all. I could get up and go about but I cannot succeed
in doing it. I assure you that if theBolognese honey changed
its flavour as much as my mother has changed, apothecaries
would no longer sell it as sweet or even as half sweet. If I am
ever dispensed from this rigorous obedience I shall think
myself fortunate. For pity's sake do not make my mother
more despotic with me than she already is, for she is very
masterful and I can no longer send her to supper nor to bed.
She will have nothing of the sort, and merely answers: { You
must obey your father,' and thus shuts my mouth so that I
can say no more. For my further comfort she has even in-
duced the doctor to say that I am not to be in my cell. Now
if you will help me with your prayers, I hope that soon I shall
do as much as you tell me, to be avenged if not on the doctor
at least on my mother.

"Sister Valeria and the other nuns thank you for the
chick-peas. There are plenty of them because they mix well
with other vegetables: they furnish a dessert.

"To-morrow at Mass (for I hear it from my bed) I shall
not fail to remember you and to commend you to Jesus and
to those two holy apostles f who will, I hope, be with you
when you go to the coming fair. My greetings to you and to
Mona Maria. . . .

"Thank you for the pears, and the honey, and the grapes:
you do too much for me. Sister Bernarda does not think it
worth while to write. She never leaves me save to write to
you; she bids me remember her to you.

11 October 27, 1561."

* Antonio Gondi, of whom an account will be found in a later chapter.
t SS. Simon and Jude, whose feast is October 28. The saint seems to use the word
"fair" here in spiritual sense, for a religious festa.

AND HER COMMUNITY 193

" I could not tell you with what great pleasure I received
your most welcome letter ! Never fear the gifts and graces
that Jesus bestows on you, but accept them all with joy.
They are a foretaste of what is prepared in heaven for men
of good will, amongst whom my dear son must be. So do
not be troubled: go on, with your heart given simply to God,
in all humility and uprightness. As for me, unworthy: I
thank God, who has shown you the need of overcoming
that enemy who always lingers about us, and who would
have disturbed this happy state of things if he could ; but,
thanks to our Lord who chose to confirm your progress in
good, he has not had the strength to do so !

" It gives me the deepest satisfaction to know that during
that night you were inspired with the right thing to do, and
that you will carry out the thought; for it is an exceedingly
great merit to obey God in His good inspirations ; and, by this
act, you may have gained more than the whole finite world
is worth, in one treasure of the infinite world to come. We
cannot gain these by our own power, but only by a grace
from God. . . . He has made us out of nothing, has re-
deemed us by the gift of Himself, and unceasingly redeems
us over again from our daily sins. And this should not
frighten us, but fill us with supreme joy and make us praise
His name more and more .... Oh, my dear father, be
joyful ! Make yourself, by means of these gifts, a freeman
of the heavenly city, whose inhabitants will honour, help
and defend you : even as a beggar may buy himself a citizen-
ship, and an honourable position,with the money gratuitously
bestowed on him by a king. Ah, how happy I feel about
you to-day ! . . . .

"November 7, 1561."

The church of San Vincenzio was finished in October,
1563, and solemnly consecrated on the 23rd of that month.
Filippo then added other buildings to the convent — in-
cluding a small room in the out-portion for himself — which
carried on the work for two years more. When all these
grand constructions were seen in their completeness, the
public became curious as to how much they had cost, and

13

i94 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

his wondering fellow-citizens tried in every way to entrap
him into telling their price. All that they could get out of
him, however, was that "he did not care for such things to
be known to man: it was enough if they were clear to
Him who would reward them." Cosmo de' Medici — well
acquainted of old with his Cousin Salviati's stinginess —
is reported to have said a propos of these buildings, "that
one of the greatest miracles which made him believe in the
high sanctity of Mother Catherine, was her having been
able to get Filippo to be so liberal to her convent."

But of the far greater miracle of Salviati's inward con-
version, and rapid attainment of spiritual perfection under
the saint's guidance, the world could of course have but
very little knowledge or appreciation ; though it was to some
extent made outwardly apparent by his ever-increasing in--
difference to all the splendours and luxuries of his former
life, and love of spending all the time he could in the little
cell attached to the convent, where he had barely common
comforts. Here he would go whenever he could get the
leisure, rather than to any of his country villas, for change
and refreshment; and here, as his life drew to a close, he
would hold higher and higher intercourse on the things of
God with the saint and her holy companions. He came at
last to have so great a longing for the sight of God, that
he used to speak of the rapid failure of his health as a
traveller towards home speaks of the favourable conditions
of his voyage, and of the loved ones that he is expecting
to see on landing. Shortly before he died, he wrote to Sister
Jacopa Cini: "I am departing post-haste; and I am trusting,
by the grace of Jesus Christ, and with the help of the most
blessed Virgin and the saints of Paradise, to make a holy
death. I hope at last to be well received by Him who was
shown to me in vision at Mayano, with the promise that
He would one day be my reward." *

Filippo Salviati died in 1572; and he and his wife (the
date of whose death is not forthcoming) were both buried
under the high altar of the church at San Vincenzio, as he
had requested in his lifetime.

* Seraf. Razzi, lib. I, cap. x, p. 36. Mayano was a place where Salviati had made a
stay shortly before he went to Prato in 1557, and where he is said to have had a vision
of our Lord to encourage him in his resolution of helping the community.

AND HER COMMUNITY 195

CHAPTER XV

St Catherine and her Brothers — Correspondence with Ridolfo and Vin-
cenzio — Visit of the Bavarian Prince to Prato — Prophecy of the
miraculous Escape of St Charles Borromeo.

IT is time now to show how Catherine, amidst her many
labours — natural and supernatural — for her community and
the general public, was regularly keeping up close inter-
course with such members of her own family as were left
to her. These became very few in number long before her
own death. We have seen how she lost the most valued of
her relations by the death of her holy uncle, Timoteo, just as
she became prioress; and by 1555 she had closed the eyes
of the last of those three young sisters whose early deaths
as Religious have been already recorded. The only sister
then left to her was Maria Benigna, often referred to in her
letters, for whom she appears to have had a special affection,
and of whom it is said that besides being an extremely
holy young nun of great promise to the Order, she showed
in a high degree St Catherine's peculiar power of comfort-
ing people in trouble. However, she was no more destined
than her younger sisters to complete her career: she sickened
and died in the year 1562, while the new church was in
progress; and the story of her death is also that of a mira-
culous occurrence, exemplifying a power exercised by the
saint at times over her dying children for some special pur-
pose. Catherine happened, that year, to be sub-prioress, and
was exceedingly anxious that a double clothing, to take place
on April 12, should go off with all the cheerfulness that she
loved on such occasions. Sister M. Benigna was so near
death on that morning that the shadow of her departure
seemed likely to be cast over the day, when her holy sister
and superior came to her bedside and commanded her, in the
name of our Lord, not to die until the ceremony was over.
The dying young nun humbly promised obedience, and

196 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

was actually enabled supernaturally to keep her soul from
departing till the clothing was over. Then the saint, freed
from other duties, hastened back to her sister, gave her leave
to die, and, entering into ecstasy as was her wont beside
her dying children, accompanied the beloved soul on its last
journey.

After thus losing her last sister, Catherine had only left
out of her large family (for other brothers and sisters had
died as children or young people) an uncle and four brothers.
The uncle was Federigo de' Ricci, of whom we have heard
so much in the saint's correspondence with her father. He
was a man of importance in Florence, frequently holding
public offices; and his niece Catherine was specially dear to
him, so that he was always glad both to help her community,
and to give her his support in family matters. He was self-
willed, however, and somewhat hot-tempered — rather like
her own father in character — which made things at times
no easier between him and Ridolfo than they had been in
earlier days between the latter and old Pierfrancesco.

Besides Ridolfo there remained Fiammetta's three sons:
Giovanbatista, now the holy friar Fra Timoteo, who was
ever the saint's great stay, and who lived till within a few
years of her own death ; Roberto the banker, of whom not
much seems to be known, though a few important letters
to him remain; and lastly Vincenzio, youngest of the whole
family. This half-brother was the darling of Catherine's
heart and the child of her adoption. Born only a few months
before his father's death, he was but four years old when he
lost his mother; and his eldest sister did her best to replace
both parents by undertaking the entire charge of his keep
and education. Before giving more of his history, however,
we must go back some years, to give that of the turbulent
Ridolfo, whose former escapades will not have been forgotten.

For ten years after his father's death this hot-headed
youth went on in much the same way that he had begun —
always more or less in trouble, and giving endless anxiety
and scandal to his relations. Then he became a Knight of
Malta, which they hoped would steady him. He had no lack
of personal courage; and in his first engagement with the

AND HER COMMUNITY 197

Turks he gained his spurs by some desperate fighting, at
the same time being severely wounded. This feat delighted
his uncle, who wrote the news to Catherine; and here is her
letter on the subject:

To Fra Ridolfo de Ricci: Cavaliere di Malta

" My dearest brother, greeting ! It is some months since
I wrote to you. I have received no reply, so I suppose that
either your letter or mine has miscarried. And to-day I heard
from our honoured Federigo of the injury which you have
sustained from the two arquebuses. I am, as you may ima-
gine, exceedingly grieved at it, because it sounds very
serious, and must have caused, and perhaps still causes you,
severe pain. I try to think that God has permitted it for
some good end; and, now that you have become a soldier,
wills to purify you for His service and chooses that by means
of some penance, such as this, you should cancel the debt
which in time past you have contracted against His divine
goodness. Perhaps as you have to defend His holy Faith,
God may will you to fight so much the more manfully for
having done this penance, and will be the better pleased
with your service in proportion as you are more completely
purified. Perhaps, too, He has allowed you to be wounded
in order that you may be more fully conformed to Him,
your Captain, who goes before you to prepare a place which
shall be yours if you follow Him courageously. Do not,
then, let it seem to you too great a hardship to travel along
the strait path which He has traced out. And, should it
please His goodness to deprive you of bodily strength to
fight, fight so much the more bravely with your spiritual
powers which is none the less acceptable than our bodily
activities, provided that it be not our fault that we do not
do exterior work. Strengthen your soul, dear brother, with
these considerations which are all of them true; and remem-
ber that I constantly think of you with sympathy, and never
fail to pray and to obtain prayers for you, and that I desire
extremely to hear how you are at present. If you do not
come here on your way to Padua (whither you tell me your
doctors wish you to go) write me two lines; and, above all,

198 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

my dear brother, resign yourself entirely to God in all things.
Let Him be your only hope, your only good; offer yourself
to Him in every circumstance, for I desire that you should
be wholly His. Indeed you must be His, and so must all
others who desire to possess eternal life, to which may He
in His mercy lead us ! Our sisters are well. Sister Philippa,
who was Lena in the world, only went to heaven at the
beginning of last October. They all pray for you and desire
to be remembered to you. May the Lord keep you in His
grace and preserve you from all evil !

"Your most affectionate sister,

" SISTER CATHERINE DE' RICCI.

"January 13, 1552."

However, though it sobered him at first, Ridolfo's new
profession did not for a long time make much alteration in
his way of life, and he continued a constant source of worry
and sisterly care to the saint. The great supernatural gifts
that made her often so powerful in converting others were
absolutely ineffectual where her brothers were concerned —
for them she could but pray, weep and tenderly exhort, like
any ordinary woman, for the most part in vain ! When the
spell of fighting which had roused him was over, and peace
threw him into the fatal idleness of garrison life, the Cava-
liere de' Ricci became as much noted as before for wild adven-
tures that were not to his credit, so that poor Federigo
began to long for war to break out again. In vain Ridolfo's
holy sister wrote him the most affectionate letters: he hardly
ever answered them; and, when passing near Prato in going
from place to place, did not even condescend to stop and pay
her a visit. When, after a year or two of indifference, he
would write her a few lines, it would only be to beg her inter-
vention between him and his terrible uncle, who — now
bitterly displeased with him — shut up his purse as well as
his heart from the ill-conditioned nephew. Catherine, for-
giving as ever, would undertake the mission, and write her
brother word of the result, usually unfavourable, as appears
in the following letter:

" On the whole it seems reasonable that I should com-

AND HER COMMUNITY 199

plain of you, since neither by letter nor by visits have I had
any news of you; yet I excuse you, for I suppose that visiting
or writing to nuns, especially your own sisters, must seem
to you unnecessary, and waste of time. Still I do not cease
to think of you always, praying God that it may please Him
to keep you in the right and true way, and in that of His
commandments ; and in this holy journey to Loretto may
you have had so much grace from the Blessed Virgin that
she may have taken you for her own, and may keep you safe
for ever. This she will do, if you are well-disposed and take
pains to live a good and regular life in your profession, and
work for the honour and glory of God. And I do not doubt,
if you do this, that you will have all that you desire.

"As for what you ask from Federigo, as I have already
written to Roberto, he is much displeased with you, and he
thinks this departure of yours very strange, and is very angry,
so that you will not obtain anything from him. But, as An-
tonio has already told you, in a short time he will become
calmer, especially if he sees that you go on well ; for, loving
uncle as he is, he will not fail in anything, the more so if
you do not ask him; but you must have patience. In the
meantime, go on your journey, and follow the advice of
Antonio, which is the same as that of Fra Timoteo and of
Marcello, and be cheerful, for in the end you will be satis-
fied. But you must have a little patience and compassion
with the old man, who loves you well, though he has con-
ceived great displeasure with you, as has been said, because
you and Roberto remained here to finish your affairs (about
whose success I know nothing). But let this be as God
pleases, and I have good hope that our Lord will help you,
if you are good. I commend myself to you always, as does
also Sister Maria Benigna. May God preserve you in good
health, and may His grace go with you.

"July 17, 1 5 59-"

Thus warned, Ridolfo would keep out of his uncle's way
for a time and make no requests; but he soon got tired of
waiting passively and would again worry his sister to inter-
cede for him : sometimes under the pretext that he was

200 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

anxious for news of her, to which Catherine on one occasion
na'ively replies: "You surprise me, for since you left I have
written to you every month ! " Sometimes he would try to
make her believe in him by excuses that touched her heart;
but she always really knew his motives in keeping up with
her, and all her letters contain reference to it. Thus, she
writes one day: "Every time I get the opportunity I recom-
mend you to Uncle Federigo. I am sure he will do what he
has promised some day, but you know he has so many things
to think of that he cannot do everything at once." Again :
" Uncle Federigo came to see me the other day, and I did
not fail to speak to him about you. He is always well-disposed
to help you: but you know him even better than I do. Wait,
and don't lose courage ! "

However, a time came when Ridolfo lost all patience,
and wrote word to his sister that he intended to come from
the place where he was stationed to Florence, and there to
come face to face with his uncle — out of whom he had not
got a word or a penny for two years — and call him to
account for not keeping his promises. Now, such a pro-
ceeding would finally ruin him with the authorities, as one
of the gravest complaints against him was that of his con-
stantly coming privately to the capital to amuse himself
with his boon companions instead of attending to his duties:
and this, though he was now forty years old, and expected
to maintain the honour and dignity of his military order
as a mature man. It was partly the knowledge of this low
public estimation in which his nephew was coming to be
held that so inflamed Federigo's anger and hardened his
heart; and Catherine's alarm was extreme when she heard
of this rash intention of her brother's to come and openly
put himself into collision with their uncle and with others
of weight. She therefore gave him her mind freely on the
subject:

"As it is so long since I have had news of you, I tell
you truly, that when this evening I had your letter of the
1 9th ultimo in my hand, I felt quite happy in reading it.
I do not wish to complain of you in anything, for that
would give me pain also; yet though I was pleased with the

AND HER COMMUNITY 201

beginning, at the end I felt displeased when you say: c I shall
see you again soon.' If you are coming to ask for help and
a gratuity from my uncle and others, do not take this step>
because I can tell you that it will have the contrary effect,
and be against your good, in many ways. I am sorry he has
not performed what he promised; but I tell you that your
presence will only inflame the wound, and what you think
will be quite otherwise. And I tell you plainly, that if you
take this step, you must take care not to appear before
Federigo, nor the others; this for certain; and, my brother,
consider and ponder well all these things. Act according to
the light of reason, for I know that if you make use of this
light you will find that you must not resolve upon that
step; and this I tell you plainly and absolutely, because
I know what I am saying. And I know you to have sense
enough to consider well what you are doing. It is not right
in things of importance to be guided by your will only, but
to act with prudence, and always to think of the conse-
quences of our acts for ourselves and for others. And
perhaps you do not know all; but I, who know very well,
tell you that you must put this journey out of your head,
and not undertake it; and I repeat that if any one had the
wish to do you any good, this would be the very thing to
prevent it. Think, dear brother, that I am your sister, and
love you, our Lord knows how much, and to Him I com-
mend you whenever I can. I will never fail to help you
when I can; but be wise, and live in the fear of God, for
if you do so, I am sure that He will never forsake you; on
the contrary, I have a firm hope in His most holy aid, if
you will be what a Christian ought to be. And please, when
you write, do not speak of things so openly, for it will not
help us. May God be with you always.

" January 28, 1560."

Her arguments for his own benefit prevailed. Ridolfo
did not come to Florence; and from this time forth seems
to have begun doing more honour to his profession by
keeping out of any very serious scrapes. In 1566, when
war again broke out with the Turks, and he could once

O '

202 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

more take part in active military duties, the rough life, the
fighting, and the suffering from further wounds that he got,
worked by degrees a complete change in his character; and
Catherine's faithful love and care were at last rewarded by
her brother's true conversion. In 1569 he evidently wrote
her some account of his good resolutions, to which the
following is an answer:

"A few days ago I received by the hand of Fabbruzzi
your most welcome letter of September 7, which reminds
me that I had another from you still earlier from Palermo.
I replied to it at length, and sent again some fine cord by
means of Vincenzio, which I think you must have had.
This letter of yours gave me great pleasure to see that you
are so well disposed to do the will of God, and take pains
not to offend Him. I thank Him for giving you such good
dispositions, and pray earnestly that He will give you help
and perseverance in well-doing. And believe me, dearest
brother, that you are always in my thoughts more than
any one else in this world, as you ought to be; for are we
not alone, you and I ? I desire that we may meet again in
paradise, and I pray God earnestly that it may be so, and
do you pray the same for me, as I have said before. I have
always had your love and affection, for which may our Lord
reward you, and may He give us grace to be His good
servants, so that in another life we may be near Him and
enjoy eternal good. I commend myself to you. May God
keep you in His holy grace, and deliver you from all evil.

"December 22, 1569."

At the beginning of the next year she writes:

"I have your very kind letter of Jan. 27, from which I
am happy to learn that you are well, peaceful and contented,
with the hope of better things, and that you may return one
day to your native land. I pray that God may grant us this
grace, if it be for the good of our souls. I am grieved that your
leg still causes you inconvenience, besides other indisposi-
tions; it is in these ways our Lord teaches us that in this life
we can never be free from trials. I pray continually that of

AND HER COMMUNITY 203

His infinite goodness it may please Him to give you health
to do always His holy will. I thank you for the alms sent
in your name, for which I pray that God may reward you for
us, for it is very kind and loving of you. Yesterday Vincenzio
came here and gave me the said alms; he told me that he was
very happy in hoping soon to be married. I am glad that you
have warned him, and certainly he seems inclined to do what
is right. He let me read the letter you wrote to him, and by
this I learned your troubles. Be patient and place everything
in the hands of our Lord. I am delighted that your Prince is
pleased to do you the benefit of repairing the church under
your guardianship; it is a great grace and very useful with all
it has cost you this year, which you say is a sum of fifty scudi
(crowns). With this you will do much good in honour of our
Lord, and I pray that all you have to spend may be given
you at once, for the expenses will be very great. I think you
have a great deal to thank God for, from whom proceed all
good things, and for the good will, as I am sure you have, to
be a good Christian. May His goodness grant you this grace
for which I pray earnestly, bearing you always in mind, and
whenever I can praying for you. I commend myself to you,
and again I thank you. May our Lord make you all His own.
"March 5, 1570."

A word must now be said of Vincenzio — the " Benja-
min" of the de' Ricci family — whose engagement comes out
in the above letter. Whilst he remained a child, Catherine
placed him to be brought up with people over whom she
herself could exercise surveillance, and found no difficulty
in keeping him under control. But, growing up, she natu-
rally felt that he must have a stronger hand over him than
hers, and she put him under the charge of her friend and
" spiritual son," the Antonio Gondi of whom we have heard
in her letters to Salviati. Vincenzio got on quietly at first
with his guardian; but, when he was about sixteen, got for a
time into a rebellious stage, showing signs of an inclination
to follow his elder half-brother's example; and his motherly
sister found it necessary to bring all the weight of her love
and authority combined to bear upon the delinquent. Her

204 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

own letters to him give the simplest history of this little
episode:

'To her Brother Vincenzio de Ricci

" Dearest brother, greeting, — The affection I bear you,
and the hope I have in you, has caused me great displeasure
on account of what Antonio (Gondi) has told me of your
behaviour. He came here to tell me deliberately that he can
no longer take care of you, for he has not the heart to suffer
your conduct, and begs me to excuse him. Considering your
best interests, I begged him so hard that he has promised me
to have patience a little longer, to see whether you amend
your ways. This has caused me no little grief, assuring me,
as he did, that he could suffer it no longer. Really, my dear
brother, I did not expect this of you, for I had earnestly
entreated the master to take you, and Antonio to look after
you, and teach you every virtue. He has taken much trouble
that you should learn something, and now you do so little
honour to him and to me. The consequence will be the harm
you will do yourself, for if you lose this opportunity, con-
sider in what condition you will be, and where you will go.
Poor boy! it seems to me that you are greatly wanting in
judgement. And if you will not pay attention to Antonio nor
to me, at least you will have to think of yourself. But not
living in the fear of God, as you ought to do, I think will
be the cause of every evil. I hope in any case you will cor-
rect yourself; and first, that you will live as a good Christian
and leave aside these follies that you seem inclined to
indulge in. And now that we are in Lent, I wish that you
should get up early and hear holy Mass and a sermon, then
attend to the duties imposed on you, and do them will-
ingly, and not as by force; and do not fail in obedience to
Antonio. And when you wish for leave of absence, ask it
of him and not of the master. For although the latter may
give it you, do not take it against his will (Antonio's), for
he does it for your good, though you do not know it, for
you are inclined to certain boyish tricks which will be your
ruin. And your wearing certain vanities, I should like you
to tell me if they belong to you, who have nothing in the

AND HER COMMUNITY 205

world! For God's sake, my brother, do not run into such
errors, for I know you will soon repent of them. Force your-
self to live as a good youth in the sight of Jesus. Regulate
all according to Christian rules, and to the promises you
have made; doing this, you will be a pleasure to us and of
use to yourself. Be careful also not to say one thing for an-
other, nor to make excuses for yourself, for if you do your
duty you will not seek to shield yourself with lies, but will
go on doing everything in sincerity and truth, for God sees
all things. And if you do as Antonio tells you, it will be
good for him and for you. Do so that when he returns here,
he will speak well of you, otherwise I can see that your
affairs will have a bad ending. And do not take it ill that
I write thus to you; the affection I have for you induces me
to give you the necessary warning. May God move your
heart to do your duty. I commend myself to you, as does
also Sister Benigna. May God preserve you in His grace.
"Feb. 24, 1560."

" I have received your welcome letter, by which I learn
that you and all at home are well. I have also received your
kind gifts of charity; may our Lord reward you, and we all
thank you. With all my heart I pray that you may be good,
and may fear God; for if you do this all things else will go
well. And I beg of you to be obedient to Antonio, who only
wishes to be kind to you, more than you think. And if it
appears tiresome to you that he does not wish you to go
into the country on feast-days, when you think you have
nothing to do, I may tell you that he is not wrong in this,
many things falling to him, which makes it necessary that
one person should remain in case of need that might arise;
the more so that, the master being ill, you might have to
visit him three or four times in the day. Besides, you should
not neglect vespers and prayers, or to read some good book;
and if you did this the time would pass without your perceiv-
ing it. And I should like you to keep in your study some
book of devotion; read it frequently; and if you practise
these things, Jesus will be always with you and will help
you, and will make all your affairs prosper. Also I wish that

206 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

you should take care of that Spanish boy and conduct him
to the places mentioned by Antonio. Obey him, as I have
said, in all things, and he will do well by you; if you separate
from him, you may be sure you will do wrong and will not
find any one else to care for you. Therefore, my dear brother,
do me the pleasure to behave well, that I may have good
accounts of you; otherwise you will displease me greatly,
more than I can tell you. However, I have good hope that
you will be a comfort to me, seeing that I desire only your
good. I never fail to pray for you, and for all those at home.
May our Lord preserve you in His grace and keep you
from all harm. I commend myself to you. Your sister, etc.
" June 3, 1561."

Vincenzio rewarded the saint's care by growing into a
good man, and a most useful and prominent citizen. He
married the "Cassandra" above referred to — a cousin of the
family — in 1571; and both he and his wife are frequently
mentioned in Catherine's further letters to Ridolfo. These
letters, however, are not of special interest: they show the
Cavaliere to have remained faithful to his promises of a re-
formed life, to have kept up intercourse with both his half-
brothers and their families (as it is mentioned once that he
goes to stay in the country with Roberto and his wife), and
to have suffered more or less from bad health to the end of
his days. He died twelve years before Catherine: at what
place is not mentioned; but, from the last two letters that
we give of the family correspondence, it was clearly some-
where close to whichever Dominican Priory his younger
brother, the friar, then happened to be inhabiting: so that
poor Ridolfo had every loving, as well as spiritual, care on
his death-bed.

To Vincenzio de Ricci

"Your letter, informing me of the illness of the Cava-
liere, is a great sorrow to me. I fear that an affection of the
chest in his bad state of health must be very serious, and I
grieve both on his account and for your sake. If the doctor
should pronounce him to be in danger I beg of you with all
my heart to prepare him for all the holy sacraments, so that,

AND HER COMMUNITY 207

when his hour shall come, he may depart in due dispositions.
Tell Fra Timoteo from me to use the utmost care about
this matter and not to put it off till the end, for it will do
the sick man no harm but rather good. I conjure you to
attend to these two points. Remember me to Fra Timoteo.
I am not writing to him now as I want to despatch this letter.
I know that you will not fail to do anything that may restore
the Cavaliere to health if such be the will of God. All the nuns
and I are praying for him. Remember me to him : bid him
be of good heart and commit himself wholly to God, who
will assist him. Let him cheerfully resign himself to his Lord
and patiently take the little suffering with which He is feast-
ing him. I commend myself to you, and to Cassandra. May
God preserve you in His grace.
"January 4, 1578."

To the Same

"Beloved brother : greeting. I have received your most
agreeable letter, but it is with sorrow that I learn the con-
dition of our dearest brother, for from what you tell me
and what I hear from the steward I think he must have
already passed to another life. God grant that he may have
done so in such a manner as we all desire, for I wish for
nothing but his salvation, for which I entreat the Lord as
earnestly as I can. He was our brother, we cannot but grieve
to lose him. But we all have to look forward to the journey
which he has made, and nothing remains for us but to be
patient and resigned to the divine will. To this patience I
exhort you, and I counsel you likewise to put all your affairs
in good order. I will not grieve you further but will con-
clude. I commend myself to you and to Cassandra : may
God keep you in His grace.

"February 24, 1578."

Strangely enough, during the years when St Catherine
was thus humbly doing her best, with ordinary human
means and slow success, to help her own family, she was
twice brought strikingly into public notice by miraculous
acts. The first time was in 1565, when the King of Bavaria
sent his son to Prato, expressly to ascertain from personal

208 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

observation the facts about the renowned "saint," and to
recommend him and his kingdom to her prayers. Catherine
had a great esteem for this king, who had kept faithful to
the Catholic Church amidst so many German deserters;
and, when she heard of his son's intended visit, prepared
with much joy so to entertain him as to encourage and
confirm his faith and his love of the Church, little guessing
how she was destined to fulfil her intention. The young
prince arrived at the convent on the feast of the Epiphany,
and Mother Catherine came to the door to meet him. She
was filled, at the moment, with thoughts of the great
mystery they were celebrating ; and, beholding her royal
visitor surrounded by a brilliant cortege of attendants and
friends, she was suddenly rapt in spirit to Bethlehem, into
the company of the Magi and their suite. When the prince
came forward — according to German custom — to take her
hand into his, the saint thought that one of the holy kings
was receiving her amongst them, to take her with them to
the crib. Thus, led by him — and outwardly appearing to be
doing the honours of her convent to the illustrious guest —
she went back into the house and conducted the company
through it, with all eyes upon her; walking, in heart,
amongst the Magi, etc., into the presence of the Infant
Jesus. Her face was radiant, and her whole appearance
showed an angelic modesty and beauty that commanded
awe in her visitors; whilst her soul was filled with holy
exaltation, and she uttered, in praise of the Divine Child,
words of inexpressible tenderness and grace. The young
prince was enraptured : never before had human voice
spoken with such accents before him: never had his heart
felt such deep and burning love for God. But he did not
fully understand what he had seen and heard, until they
told him afterwards that Mother Catherine had been in an
ecstasy the whole time of his visit, and explained what
invisible scene she had been inwardly contemplating whilst
she had spoken these marvellous words. When he returned
to his father's court, he was thus able to bear witness that
the wonders of Prato surpassed anything reported of them,
and to affirm that he had seen with his own eyes, and

AND HER COMMUNITY 209

beyond any doubt, how God shows forth His presence
and power in the saints of the one true Church.*

The second of these miraculous incidents happened four
years later, and is associated with no less a person than St
Charles Borromeo. A certain priest attached to the great
cardinal-archbishop's court at Milan, named Agostino
Guizelmi, and a native of Prato, never came there without
giving himself the pleasure of a visit to the saint. He en-
joyed talking to her, not only because of the spiritual good
that it brought him, but because each time he saw her he
was able to make fresh observations on the marvellous
virtues and the prodigies of grace that shone forth in her;
and it delighted him, on his return to Milan, to rejoice
the cardinal's heart by reporting it all to him. Mother
Catherine, in her turn, loved to hear of St Charles's extra-
ordinary austerities, and of the wonderful works that he
was then doing for the reform of his diocese, to the great
edification of the whole Church. Hence there resulted a
reciprocal affection and esteem between the two saints
which the devout Guizelmi took keen pleasure in foster-
ing. Now, one day in the year 1 569, as he was taking leave
of Catherine on starting for Milan, she gave him a picture
of the Ecce Homo to take to the cardinal, asking him to tell
the latter not to pay much attention to the picture itself,
which was badly done, but to Him whom it represented.
She then added, prophetically, that this picture would de-
liver him a few days hence from a great peril, in the form
of an attempt on his life, made out of hatred for his zeal in
reforming abuses. St Charles received the picture with
respect, and kept it carefully as Mother Catherine advised.
A few days later, as he was saying night-prayers with his
household in the archiepiscopal palace chapel, the well-known
attempt on his life took place. The wretched assassin, who
had been secretly let in, fired a gun straight at him, and
he escaped death by a miracle; for the bullets, as though
having lost their force on touching him, were found at his
feet, and he remained unhurt.

Three days afterwards the holy cardinal sent for Guizel-

* Seraf. Razzi, lib. Ill, cap. ix, p. 125.

210 ST CATHERINE DE' RICC1

mi, and made him say over again exactly what Catherine had
said on giving him the picture. Seeing that every word of
hers had come strictly true, he conceived a higher admiration
for her than ever; and he had the precious picture finely
framed and hung in his study, much to the surprise of some
habitues of the palace, who could not imagine why a place of
honour was given to so poor a work of art.*

* Compendia, etc., Awertimento al Lettore, p. 25.

AND HER COMMUNITY 211

CHAPTER XVI

Some Correspondence of St Catherine with Superiors of her Order — The
affair of Convent Enclosure

AMONGST CATHERINE DE' RICCI'S correspondence there are a
few letters to ecclesiastical superiors which must here find
a place in extenso, as bringing out with striking vividness a
side of her character which nothing could so well emphasize
as her own words: namely, the strong moral courage that
made her say what she thought, without fear or favour, when
she felt it her duty to withstand even those of whom she
might naturally be somewhat afraid; and that enabled her to
carry out what she believed to be right in face of opposition
which might cause her severe pain.

This little group of letters — to the general and provin-
cial of the Order, and the prior of the "Minerva" in Rome
— need a few preliminary words of explanation.

The decrees of the Council of Trent for Church reform
were just at this time being actively carried into execution.
St Pius V, in his Apostolic Constitutions of 1 566 and 1569,
had laid down that there should be no more convents of
nuns except on condition of absolute enclosure. All monas-
teries of women making only " simple " vows and having
only semi-enclosure — like most of the Third Order commu-
nities— were henceforth forbidden; and to members of
those actually existing the bishops were ordered to give the
choice of accepting complete enclosure, or of being released
from their vows and returning to the world. Such was the
law. The mode of its application in each case was left to
the wisdom of prelates and superiors of the respective com-
munities. As the great object of the ordinance was simply
the reform of abuses, it stood to reason that in the case of
many fervent and regular communities too rigorous or hasty
an application of it would have been very undesirable, as
likely to upset and perhaps disband bodies which it was

212 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

better for public edification to keep undisturbed. This was
eminently the case with San Vincenzio at Prato; others — the
superiors of the Dominican Order, who were its ultimate
governors — had thought it prudent not to formally promul-
gate the pontifical decree there, but to get its requirements
gradually and quietly accepted, by way of persuasion rather
than of authority.

However, in the year 1576, when it so happened that
Mother Catherine had just begun a fresh term of office as
prioress, St Pius V's successor, Gregory XIII, appointed
apostolic commissioners to visit the Tuscan convents ex-
pressly to inquire into their observance of enclosure. At
Prato, the sole thing contrary to the completeness of this rule
was a door of communication between the sanctuary of the
public church and the nuns' choir. In view of the canonical
visitation, the superiors of the Order thought best to have
this door done away with, though without speaking to the
nuns of "enclosure" — merely putting it upon the ground
that "it was not a suitable place" for an entrance. Now, it so
happened that this could not be done without infringing
the rights of a third party: namely, the sons of Salviati, to
whom their father had bequeathed all his rights as "founder"
of the church and new convent buildings. Catherine, there-
fore, before taking any action, wrote as follows to the Father
General of the Order,* from whom the command to wall up
the door had come whilst she was so ill that the nuns were
afraid to worry her with the full contents of his letter till
some time after its arrival :

To the Father General Serafino Cavalli

"Very Reverend Father-General, my dear father in
Christ, greeting. Not until to-day, that we are at the thirtieth
of May, has the news reached me of the contents of your
Reverence's letter of the thirteenth of April last, which ar-
rived on the twenty-sixth; it was given tome that evening

* Padre Serafino Cavalli, a noted member of his Order. As "Master in Theology" he
had taken part in the Council of Trent, and as a man of exemplary life was much respected.
He was elected General of the whole Order in 1571, and held office for seven years, during
which he visited the Priories of Spain, France and Flanders as well as of Italy. He died
at Seville, in 1578, at 56 years old, in high repute for sanctity.

AND HER COMMUNITY 213

enclosed within another from Florence, where just then fever
was raging, and I was very ill; and having at that time near
me some of our mothers, I gave them the letters. I told
them to read your Reverence's inside theirs, and to inform
me of the contents; then they related to me the first part
only. And I, who was seriously ill, believed that they had
answered it, and thought no more about it; and they would
say nothing, so that I should not be troubled. Now I am
greatly displeased about the matter, and because the wishes
of your Reverence have not been carried out, which has
come as a crown to many other troubles at this time. But
our Lord be praised, all this is little compared with my sins;
with strange times are we oppressed ! They, that is, these
mothers, told me that they had immediately written to
Florence to Antonio Gondi, that he should ask leave of the
Salviati. But now that 1 know, I will not neglect the wish

•* O

of your Reverence; but 1 cannot carry it out at once, for
I am still so weak that I cannot move myself nor leave my
room, on account of the great weakness after the fever I have
had from Easter day until now, although it is not so bad
at present. It seems to me necessary to speak to the Salviati,
sons of Messer Filippo of happy memory, who gave the wall
bearing his arms, and to tell them that I would not do any-
thing to his building without letting them know of it. If we
did otherwise, we should lose many benefits and conveniences
which he was pleased to have done for our monastery, which
is going to pieces, and all the old part of the wall is in a
ruinous state. It would be a great loss if it were left to fall
down, and a great disadvantage to us, for the wall is ninety-
four feet long and more than sixteen feet high; it was on
account of this that the Salviati sent architects and builders
here, and concluded in short that it should not go to pieces.
So that they gave us to understand only yesterday by a mes-
sage that they were coming to put the thing in hand at once.
And we received this as from God in the first place as a great
gift of His immense providence and of their charity. By
reason of all this I am in great trouble and anxiety; for I
feel bound in every sense and am equally desirous to fulfil
your command, most reverend father; and on the other

2i4 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

hand, if I do anything to offend the sons of Messer Filippo,
they may be displeased and withdraw their hand from an
undertaking of such great importance to this house. And I
am so ill that I cannot go to thegril/e; or I would send for them
and would impress upon them >/># "boce (with God's help),
before anything was touched, whatever may be your wishes,
most reverend father; and I believe that they would easily
surrender to the truth. And perhaps they would even put
in order the confessionals, now so inconvenient; as well as
the rooms which Messer Filippo inhabited. But they are of
that sort that it is necessary to manage them a little, and to
make use of a little persuasion to obtain from them what we
want. And if I were able to speak to them, I should take
pains to bring it about so that your Reverence should be
obeyed, which I care for more than my own life. But I en-
treat you, so long as God shall afflict me, that you will deign
to have patience, till I can go to the parlour grating, and do
the business with these Salviati. And then your Reverence's
wishes shall be immediately carried out. And our mothers
pray you humbly also for the same. And if you wish any-
thing different, and that nothing should be said on these
matters to the Salviati, will your Reverence deign to tell us,
that we may obey you. And if they should be angry, and
should withdraw their promised benefits, and a great part
of the monastery should be ruined besides causing great
mortality amongst us, we would rather choose this, than not
follow the wishes of your Reverence, who is our father and
master. And I pray you with all my heart to have compas-
sion on us, your poor daughters, and to commend us to
God in your holy prayers.
"Prato, May 30, 1576."

"Very Rev. Father General, greeting, — I have received
your Reverence's infinitely kind letter, and I thank you for
your patience for bearing with me with regard to our holy
cause of the doorway. When I wrote last I thought the
Salviati would have come; but as they did not, and I de-
sired to obey your paternal commands, I wrote to them with
all the consideration I could, and they replied, according to

AND HER COMMUNITY 215

the copy I send you. After that I went to the reverend father
prior, and the reverend father confessor, who advised me
what I ought to do; and while I was in suspense, the letter
arrived from your Reverence, and the reverend fathers then
wrote to them again about the state of the monastery. I re-
main at the feet of your Reverence and of the fathers waiting
to know how I may obey you in all things. And I pray you
to pardon and to help me, and remember us in your prayers,
as I always do for you. And from my heart I crave your holy
benediction.

" Your Reverence's most unworthy daughter.

"Prato,July 9, 1576."

In answer to this letter, the General wrote giving leave
for the delay until Catherine could see the Salviati. How-
ever they did not come to Prato as soon as she had expected,
and she therefore wrote to them on the subject of the supe-
rior's desire that the door should be closed as soon as possible.
The Salviati sent a reply in which they accepted the measure
for ultimate execution, but begged for postponement to
enable them to carry out the repairs, etc., for which this door
of communication was needed. Catherine forwarded their
letter to Rome, and, to her great surprise, received in return
a peremptory order to have the opening walled up at once
without further question. Nothing then remained for her
but to obey. She had made her protest as to the Salviati's
rights, and could not now go against the declared will of
the chief authorities. The door was walled up; and this act
was the first formal intimation to the community of the new
rules about enclosure. Some of the nuns got into a fright,
apparently quite unreasonable — seeing that the sacraments
could of course be brought to the sick, and a doctor or any
necessary visitor admitted, through the ordinary convent
door — and fancied all sorts of deprivations as likely to arise
from such a new state of things; whilst the Salviati, as soon
as they discovered what had happened, simply took the law
into their own hands and knocked down the wall. Hence
troubles, from within and without, fell thick on the saint's
devoted head for some time to come. In her distress she

2i6 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

wrote very fully to another superior — the head of the Roman
"Province" ; and her letter gives so graphic an account of
the whole matter that no further description is needed to
bring it all before us. Nobody seems able to explain why
the superiors, both in Rome and in Prato, acted with the
sudden, and apparently even tyrannical haste that they did
in the business, making the poor nuns suffer for what was
not their fault. We can only conjecture that it was one of
those cases in which misunderstanding on the part of one
body of holy people is needed for the sanctification of another.
Pere Bayonne considers the action of Rome, in ordering the
door to be thus suddenly done away with after Catherine
had set forth the Salviati's rights, quite inexplicable.

'To the Father Provincial of the Roman Province
" Reverend and very dear Father, greeting, — If the Lord
by His goodness had not sustained me, a sinner, I do not
know but that I should have died from the pain your letter
caused me; and do not be surprised at it. And I do not know
whether I told you that I desire it, for I fear, nay I am cer-
tain that my sins deserve this punishment, that this poor
monastery should be so troubled by the prelates* I can find
no other cause. I wrote to you of what followed; I do
not know whether you received it. The Salviati, wishing
to have a painting over the altar of the inner church, which
they undertook as a labour of love,f ordered a man of their
own to design how it was to be placed. He came here
into the church, and saw how it all stood. He then said:
'Take me through that door that I may see the effect.' J
He was answered that it was closed. He said, 'Very well,'

* This word is wanting in the MS., and can only be inserted conjecturally. — Guasti.

+ Filippo Salviati, in his will dated June 6, 1572, laid an obligation on his sons to
have an altar-piece painted for the church at San Vincenzio, at a price of between two
and three hundred florins. Vasari relates that he painted a panel at the desire of Filippo
Salviati for the Sisters of San Vincenzio, with a Madonna crowned as if received into
heaven, and below the Apostles round the sepulchre. But the picture which is preserved
near the altar, and represents the Virgin assumed and crowned, is known to be by the hand
of Master Michele Tosino, called delle Colombe; and Razzi tells us in the manuscript
chronicles of the monastery, that it was ordered and paid for by the sons of Filippo Salviati.
See the work entitled, <A Picture by Filippino Lippiin Prato, and Historical Sketches oft-wo
Pratesian Painters : Prato, 1840, p. 27 ; also Pratesian Calendar, year III, p. 137.

i The outer church, which had its principal door on to the Piazza of San Domenico,
and was in front of the inner church, used by the nuns. In 1732 it was rebuilt on a
larger scale. See Pratesian Calendar, years I and III.

AND HER COMMUNITY 217

and went away. In four or five days he returned, and said
that he had to take down that door in order to get ofF
certain coats-of-arms from the front of it. As soon as I heard
this, I went to tell the father confessor, and I found the
father prior, and told him of it. He was very angry and
desired me to tell that gentleman not to do it, or he would
be excommunicated. This order I immediately carried out.
Then he stopped, and did not return the next morning.
I believed that everything would be let alone; because it is
the custom of the Salviati, if they are not allowed to do as
they like, to leave the whole thing alone. The morning after
he returned, and said that he had to take down the door,
there being no other way to pass in and out (and he showed
an order from the same Salviati) and to adjust certain work.
And 'If anybody said anything,' he added, c reply that
Messer Averardo and Antonio have ordered it to be done.'
And he had his own doors of woodwork with strong locks
put back, as his masters had ordered. The father prior,
seeing this, was indignant, and would not have Mass said
for two mornings; and both churches, the inner and the
outer, are full of scaffolding and broken plaster, and there
is no room to stand when the masons are there. You may
believe that the nuns resent this, and complain greatly,
not wishing to be deprived of their Mass. And you may
also believe that I suffer doubly on their account (alas, that
my sins should be the cause of it all !) letting them appear
more afflicted than they ought to be, seeing that they are
not to blame in the matter. And they know that at Pistoia,
in Santa Lucia, on account of the builders, the confessor
has been for six months saying Mass in the inner chapel;
and they are professed nuns of an enclosed order, whereas
we are tertiaries without enclosure. But they obey readily,
as is becoming to Religious, but not in the matter of en-
closure. This picture has been such a great and delightful
interest, and improves the church, through which one has
to pass to and fro. But to have to lose Mass on this account
is rather too hard, and seculars make remarks about it.
Reverend and dear father in the Lord, I think you may
remember that when it was a question of fastening up this

2i8 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

door, you wrote to the Salviati. They replied, that if we
had a little patience, they would restore the confessionals
and other things; and do besides what might be wanted.
After that you wished it closed up, and they were told
nothing else, and I proceeded to obey, wishing never to
fail in this, for the love of God. When the master had told
them this, you would think that they would have considered
the matter, and would have gone to the bishop to learn
whether it was his order or yours. For now the seculars
know everything and talk about it, and complain of you,
to my great displeasure, for my Order is the apple of
my eye. And I hear murmurings, and what is said by those
who have the care of your monasteries. And what is worse is
that my nuns are quite weary and overdone with these
troubles, so that I fear, and not without some foundation,
that they may do something which would displease you.
My heart is ready to break, and my weak health will not
bear so much trouble.

" Pray for me, father, to Jesus; for I can no longer en-
dure this quarrelling, and all this discontent both within
and without, which I see and feel is offensive to God. To
think that my sins, I say again, are the cause of it all ! Alas
for me ! May God preserve me to see the end of this. And
again I assure you that my strength is not sufficient for it.
Pray absolve me from my office (she was then prioress for
the fifth time) so that I may hide myself and not see my
Lord so greatly offended. And I am the more afraid, fear-
ing that my infirmity does not give them enough spiritual
support; they are so frightened, that if any violence should
be done to them, they will not be able to hold out. And
every time that I try to persuade and quiet them, they begin
to doubt me, and almost stifle me with their discussions :
still I believe that force is not pleasing to God, or that so
many poor souls should be tried and afflicted, and they seem
to have reason on their side. And there are not wanting those
who open their eyes and tell them whence it all comes. There-
fore, dear father, I pray you by the wounds of Jesus, that
you will mitigate and smooth down this affair as far as
you can.

AND HER COMMUNITY 219

"Then I know nothing about the door, though you may
hardly believe me, what it has cost me, in my mind : but
I only wish whatever my Lord wills, for whose sake I beg
you to bring this building to an end, and to see what these
Salviati are doing; for I cannot think they are such foolish
persons as to begin a thing they cannot carry through ; and
they are cousins of the Grand Duke, and are much attached
to His Serene Highness. And they have two sisters as you
know; and the grandmother of their uncle gave the first site
for this monastery.*

"I desire nothing else but to please my reverend fathers,
and especially your paternity (may God be praised for the
affection I bear you in Him); I desire that you may have
this monastery at heart and that it may not suffer violence;
for the nuns will submit, though not on the ground of en-
closure; for our constitutions permit us to go out. We do not
however avail ourselves of this except for begging alms,
which the licence of the vicar and of our father prior allows.

I have written at length; but it seemed that I could not
do otherwise. My heart is between two mill-stones, the one
being you, my fathers, the other my nuns, whom, prostrate
at your feet, I commend to you. I quite understand that
you could not do otherwise; but you have done your duty
in letting me feel this cross: blessed be our Lord ! And you
will forgive me this tediousness, although I have not spoken
with all the reverence I could desire; for, feeling the grief
of my nuns, it was necessary to make it known to you. I
have always had great confidence in you, and have never
thought that you would change towards us. I pray you that
I may not be disappointed; nor that disorder maybe allowed
in your time. And this I say for security and from neces-
sity, and with all the submission and humility that are due
to you. And I say again that I find no one knows what the
Salviati have done; therefore what can 1 do about rebuild-
ing ? I should certainly cause some disorder; there are already
signs of it, and I think you understand me. They are power-

* Razzi, in the Life of Sister Catherine (lib. I, cap. ii), narrates how Father Francesco
Salviati, Vicar-General of the Congregation of San Marco, procured the foundation ot
the Monastery of San Vincenzio in 1503; but there is no mention of the grandmother
who gave the first site: — ilfrimoiito. fc

220 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

ful and nobles; and what they have done appears reasonable.
And this is true, that they cannot remove these coats-of-arms
without making the passage; so it would appear best to let
them finish and then see what they do; but not vex me with
rebuilding this wall, for I cannot do it. I did it the first time
with much displeasure to the nuns, and I did not consult
any one: I thought only of obeying. . . . However, I leave
all to God, and place in His arms this poor and afflicted
house ; and you also, that you may be enlightened as to what
is best. ... I thank you for your very kind letter; as for
me, I did not deserve so much, rather the contrary, being
but an abyss of misery. . . . Of your charity give us your
blessing.

" Prato, March 6, 1576."

The next difficulty was about who should shut up the
door again; for the Dominican authorities did not carry
out their threats of excommunicating the Salviati, and took
no further steps; leaving things as they were, so as to thro\v
the whole brunt of the trouble on Catherine. Her refusal,
expressed in the above letter, to rebuild the wall, on account
of the Salviati's rights, had roused the anger of some over-
zealous and indiscriminating spirits who hastily concluded
that her sanctity was more than doubtful when they saw her,
and the community she ruled, in opposition to the prior and
other superiors. Whether these were members of the Order,
or laymen in official authority, is not mentioned; but in
either case they were people of importance enough to be
listened to, for they sent to Rome a "memorial," denoun-
cing Catherine's action in this matter, which raised a real
storm against her and her convent. Some cardinals and
other eminent personages, tried hard to get San Vincenzio
condemned by the Holy See ; whilst the side of the nuns
was hotly taken in Florence by the grand duke, who sent
a minister of State to Prato expressly to enquire into the
affair, that he might have a right foundation for under-
taking their defence as his subjects. He wrote many letters
to Mother Catherine, encouraging her and promising his
protection; and Joanna of Austria, his wife, constantly

AND HER COMMUNITY 221

urged him to keep up his interest, and often went herself
to see the saint and show her sympathy. The prior of the
Minerva in Rome wrote to Catherine whilst this state of
affairs existed, and the following letter from her, in reply,
shows her own calm and courageous attitude under all the
calumnies that were abroad about her.

To the Prior of the Minefba, at Rome

" Reverend and dear Father in Christ, greeting. — I have
received your very kind letter. I thank you for the prayers
you have offered for me and for the monastery. You tell
me that my honour and that of the monastery are in the
'greatest peril, and that a complaint has been lodged against
us. I believe that on that day or during the past week it
was made known by some person of importance who knew
that some of the cardinals (or one cardinal) are against
us, and that those who are acting are actuated by some
noble personage. And I know that the grand duke sent
to us Signer Concino to hear about the case; also I know
that the grand duchess came in person. And the grand
duke wrote to me, and replied more than once that he
held and would hold this place under his particular and
affectionate protection; and I know that he has written to
me even this morning, and I know with what respect and
affection I have spoken to my fathers. If therefore anything
has been said against me, may our Lord be praised who
holds me worthy to be His follower in being evil spoken
of. As for myself, I will make no excuses; not that it appears
at all strange that I should be spoken ill of, the same having
been done to my Lord without cause; for I am guilty of
all, by reason of my imperfection. But concerning that
which you tell me, I am not guilty — it is a mistake; but,
for the love of Him, I am willing to bear everything. If
the father prior wishes to know who has written it, I know
no one who could have done so. But when Satan is bent
on ruining a place, he sets to work to get in the small end
of the wedge, and causes people to imagine or dream of
things upside down, taking a pleasure in disturbing and
afflicting one, and interrupting devotions and observances,

222 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

and causing danger for his own satisfaction. And although
I am ignorant and foolish, I know the stairs by which the
traitor enters to upset holy places, and therefore I have
commended myself to your prayers. I have had and still
have cause; and I would not have you feel surprised that I
commend myself to you. I know you are a servant of God,
and His priest and minister; therefore it is fitting for me
to do so. And I have not judged, nor will I judge any one,
except myself, who am full of evil; but I throw everything
upon my Lord, that He may be my judge and my defender
in all that is said against me. In these contradictions I will
glory; not for any virtue that is in me, but for the love of
Jesus Christ, who deigns to let me suffer. And I pray that
I may be His, and may never abandon Him, and I give
myself up to Him, to follow what pleases Him. Again I ask
you to pray for me, that I may become wholly His. Your
blessing.

" Your daughter and sister in our Lord.

"Trafo, August 29, 1577."

The matter finally ended by the truth's becoming known
at Rome, and by the disarming of the Dominican superiors'
anger in face of the saint's quiet and prudent conduct. No
reprimand at all was given; and the community triumphed,
for the authorities after all had to do just what Catherine had
begged them to do at first. They had to leave the door open
as long as the Salviati wanted it for their work; while the
sisters were left unmolested, and became gradually used to
the idea that it would one day be walled up again without
causing them any material inconvenience as they had feared.
This came to pass when the works were at last finished ; and
the convent was once more quiet and at peace.

AND HER COMMUNITY 223

CHAPTER XVII

The Saint's " Spiritual Sons," Religious and Laymen — Her Letters to some

of them

LIKE the great saint of Siena, whose group of holy disciples
included men as well as women, Catherine de' Ricci num-
bered amongst her friends some specially known as her
"spiritual sons," without some short account of whom her
history would be incomplete. Many of these were men who
— like Salviati — had been converted by her means, whether
from sin or from lukewarmness, to a better life. Others,
already holy, being incited by her example to strive for a
yet higher degree of sanctity, had earnestly begged to be
taken for her children. To all alike she gave a large place
in her heart, and a share in her prayers, penances, and other
good works; whilst she was unsparing in warnings and
exhortations for their good, her sole desire in their regard
being to see them serving God joyfully and " singing
praises to the Lord."

Amongst these "sons" the members of her own Order
form an important group, out of which we must here con-
tent ourselves with choosing, for special mention, one whose
life is most closely linked of them all with the saint's fame.
Passing over many more or less noted Dominican names,
whose owners were spiritual children of St Catherine
(including her own step-uncle, Fra Angelo da Diacceto,
afterwards Bishop of Fiesole, and a great friend of St Philip
Neri), we come to that of her chronicler, Serafino Razzi,
whose family name was de' Marradi. He tells us how,
whilst still a novice at San Marco in Florence, he was sent
to Prato for the feast of St Vincent Ferrer, patron of the
convent; and how, on that occasion, he was so happy as to con-
verse with the saint and to be received as her spiritual son.
It was perhaps to this happy and impressive incident of his
young life — for he was but twenty years old — that Serafino

224 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

owed that taste for legends and lives of saints that have made
him so dear to the Church and the Dominican Order. In his
maturer manhood, when he was given up to the laborious
teaching of theology, as master of studies, whether at Perugia
or Ragusa, his refreshment in hard work was to keep alive
piety in his soul by writing the lives of Tuscan saints. At
sixty years old, being named confessor to San Vincenzio,
where the saint had quite lately died, he began to write her
history in the very atmosphere, so to speak, of the heavenly
odour rising from her grave, and amidst the immediate
recollections and impressions of her fellow nuns. Ten years
later, we find him still there, writing those celebrated chro-
nicles of the convent that are sought after by cultivated
men as well as by pious souls, in which he shows himself
— according to the verdict of a correct judge — "that charm-
ing Tuscan writer, whom one might say had been created
expressly to describe a world, or rather a paradise, of earthly
angels."

Outside her own Order, a great favourite of Catherine's
was Fra Domenico, a wandering hermit, who travelled about,
visiting shrines, and carrying his shelter with him. His
inward spiritual history, as one of the saint's specially-loved
children, is of much interest. Domenico, we are told by
Sandrini, was a simple and unlearned man, but with such
an upright soul that he made immense progress in the
science of prayer and the love of God, and gained large
profit from paying yearly visits to his "mother" at Prato.
One year Catherine had given him as a particular " practice "
never to lose sight, in any actions, of heaven, and of the joy
and glory that he hoped for there as his reward. The holy man
took his staffand wallet, and started afresh on his peregrina-
tions from town to town and shrine to shrine; and at every
step he took, at every alms he asked and every prayer he said,
in all his annoyances and all his penances, he thought, as he
had been told, of heaven with its joys and glories; and,
behold ! this sweet thought lessened his burdens, scattered
his cares, and soothed his weariness. Then, comparing the
little that he did for God with the great things that God
was preparing for him, he blushed to be such a cowardly

AND HER COMMUNITY 225

servant, so niggardly of his services to such a great and
munificient Lord. Thereupon, he redoubled his prayers,
fasts, penances, good works, and patience in trial ; in short,
his fervour in everything. But, do as he would, the vision
of heaven constantly grew before his mind's eye, bringing
with it a perfect torrent of inward joy; so that as he in-
creased his labours he did but increase his happiness, and
there were times when he even fell by the way as he jour-
neyed, actually overcome by the greatness of his delight.
Had any one, at such moments, met the poor begging
hermit, covered with sweat and dust, gasping for breath
beneath some tree or hedge, he must have been rilled with
pity for his apparently wretched state of want and fatigue.
Yet this man was just then happier than a king on his
throne, inwardly revelling in joys unknown to the ordinary
mortal. So, when the year had run out, and the disciple
went back for his teacher's fresh lesson, he begged her to
give him no new practice, but to let him keep always to
the same, no other having been so sweet and fruitful. It
used to be said in the convent that, when this holy mother
and son discoursed of the future life and its mysteries,
wonderful things passed between them. Like two seraphs,
their souls encouraged each other to mount incessantly
higher and higher in the ways of divine contemplation;
and the favours that they received were in proportion to
their love. They are said to have been rapt sometimes,
when together, into extraordinary ecstasies.

But Fra Domenico, like his saintly teacher, was not
without his humorous side when he came down from the
heights; and an amusing story is told by Razzi of a bit of
mischief that he practised one day on the nuns at Prato.
Taking it into his head that he should like to test the
charity of the sisters who managed the convent hospitali-
ties and alms-giving, he presented himself at the door
without saying who he was (the portress, of course, being
a stranger to him) and asked for a loaf, which the sisters
hastened to bring him. Keeping it in his hand, he then
said that he should like a little wine. This they said he
was very welcome to, and they fetched him some of the

15

226 ST CATHERINE DE' RICC1

red wine that the community used. Next, he asked if they
could not find him something to eat with his bread, which
they again made no difficulty about. When, however, he
finally went on to say that he "hoped they would excuse
him, but that he did not drink red wine and would be very
grateful if they could bring him a little white," the minis-
tering sisters felt that they could not quite take this upon
themselves — the white wine being somewhat of a luxury —
and went to get Mother Catherine's leave, telling her what
had passed. The prioress gave her consent; but she came
down to the hospice to see who this strange frate might
be, who had asked for so many things; and recognizing
Domenico at a glance, was delighted to see him. Then the
holy man thanked her cordially for all that the sisters had
supplied him with; but added, with a sly smile, that it was
well for them that they had satisfied all his demands,
"Because," he pleasantly said, "if it had happened to be
our Lord in person who had asked them for all this, they
would have been greatly grieved and troubled at heart not
to have contented Him." "Yes," replied the saint, archly;
"but then possibly our Lord in person would not have
asked for quite so much!"

Turning now to Catherine's " sons " amongst laymen,
who were many, we can find space here for mention of only
two or three specially bound up with her community by
devotion to its interests. The nuns' poverty, as we have
seen, was great — sometimes extreme — and Catherine often
depended entirely on the good-will and exertions of her
secular friends for the transaction of business which she
could not pay professional agents to do. Many of her
spiritual children proved the solidity of their attachment
to her, and of their esteem for the Prato community, by
perseveringly doing really hard work for their benefit;
and amongst these, Buonaccorso Buonaccorsi, Lorenzo
Strozzi, Ludovico Capponi, and Antonio Gondi, shall here
be chosen for particular notice, as specially interesting
in different ways. Buonaccorso Buonaccorsi was born in
October, 1506. He was a man of religious mind from the
beginning; and, quite early in his career as public notary,

AND HER COMMUNITY 227

went and offered his services in looking after the business
of San Vincenzio on the sole condition that Catherine
would charge herself with the guidance of his soul. She
readily consented, and rejoiced in him as a son who
made great spiritual progress throughout his life. His great
claim on our interest is that many of the saint's letters are
addressed to him. Amongst some papers belonging to the
Prato convent — now preserved in the State Archives at
Florence — there is a small note-book containing an entry
of some interest in connection with Buonaccorso, which
runs thus: "In the name of God, Amen. This journal is
called by me, Master Buonaccorso, son of Leonardo Buonac-
corsi, Florentine notary, Holy 'Journal A^ in which I shall
put down everything that I may happen to pay or to
receive every day on account of the convent of San Vin-
cenzio at Prato, and on account of others, for the benefit
of the nuns and the use of the said convent." The entries
concerning San Vincenzio, however, are not many.

Amongst St Catherine's letters to Buonaccorso, are one
or two notes addressed in common to him and Antonio
Gondi,and to him and Lorenzo Taddei.* Some of her letters
to the notary are of course on temporal business: the few
chosen for giving here are spiritual ones.

Buonaccorso died in June, 1592, two years after the
saint. He was buried at San Lorenzo.

To Buonaccorso Buoraccorsi

" I received your welcome letter of the 2oth a few days
since, and hasten to reply. In yours you ask me about two
things, for neither of which I know sufficient; nevertheless it
appears to me that those who wish to be pleasing to God,

* Lorenzo Taddei, above-named, was a man associated for a time with Buonaccorso
in his work for the Prato nuns, having acted for a time as procurator-general for them
after Pierfrancesco de' Ricci's death. He was devoted to the saint, who had a great
admiration for his character and, though he was a comparatively young man, called him
father. He died not very long after her elevation to high office, in March, 1555; and
the following passage about him in a letter to Buonaccorso (not otherwise interesting) is
worth quoting. After expressing her grief at his loss, she goes on: "It is well for him:
he reminds me of a rose gathered in the early morning, fully blown, but still covered
with dew and unburnt by the sun. To lose such a person is necessarily an affliction; but
to be able to hope that he has passed only from one life to another gives one a contented
feeling that overpowers and soothes all one's grief; and this is what has happened to our
father."

228 ST CATHERINE DE' RICC1

must despoil the old man, which is the affection for all earthly
things and the pleasures of sense; and put on the new man,
which is the love of all heavenly things, the observance of the
holy commandments, with zeal for the honour of God. Take
an example: If any one in this world wishes to make friends
with a nobleman so as to obtain from him some benefit or
temporal dignity, he goes about to ascertain the will of that
person, and does whatever he can to please him, never resting
day or night. Now, how much greater care and diligence
ought we not to show to do things pleasing to almighty
God, who does not reward His elect with temporal goods
that soon pass away, but with those eternal benefits that we
inherit for all time !

" Now as to your second demand. Having granted so
many others, I now grant to you, to place you where you de-
sire in our Lord (i.e., as a spiritual son) ; and so I accept you,
and offer you to Jesus and make mention of you in all my
prayers — in the same way the one dearest to you, to whom
pray commend me. And inasmuch as it would be agreeable
to me to know her, let that be at her and your convenience.
And I thank you for your kind offers, which I greatly appre-
ciate. It may happen some day that our honoured Lorenzo
Taddei, or Giovanni Colucci, our procurators, may require
your help and advice for our lawsuits. I have told them they
may consult you, for I see well your kindly disposition to-
wards us, which enables me to place confidence in you, as I
hope you will feel the same towards us whenever we can help
you. May God preserve you.

"Praia, 'December 28, 1552."

To the same

" I have received your very kind reply to our two last,
also that of Lorenzo; I have little to say now, except that it
seems each one is vying with the other to help me, and if
there is any good in it, it is from our Lord. And it is a great
thing to try to outdo one another in good, provided it be not
in the spirit of envy, not withholding our neighbour from
good, because we are not foremost in it; but with a holy
eagerness and thirst for the celestial spring, to run vehe-

AND HER COMMUNITY 229

mently, and without placing impediments in the way of
others. Oh! if such envy as this were to-day in the hearts
of Christians, how many there are who would reach the
wished-for goal which is in our time desired by so few! Let
us take pains then, my dear son, to run quickly and to win.
And in this race you will not be deemed presumptuous, no
more than that poor but happy thief who was crucified with
Jesus. Does it not seem to you that he competed wisely with
that multitude of holy fathers in Limbo, who had been wait-
ing thousands of years for the redemption? For he took so
swift a course in a moment that he outran them all, and de-
served to be first at the goal, yet without detracting from any
one who had the right to participate. I advise you to go and
run your course in like manner; to this I invite you once
more. For this is, my son, our day for the contest; and we
must keep more firm than usual, as this year the beginning
and end of our redemption both occur together.* And with
regard to holding firm, we see, for example, how when a man
thinks of some great thing, turning it over in his mind, he
stops all his work, and many times seems to remain motion-
less; so should we, considering how profound is the matter
we reflect on, remain firm and motionless; first, because
Mercy, having overcome Justice and placed itself before the
eternal Father, has moved Him to take flesh for the salva-
tion of our ungrateful souls. It has drawn down God from on
high to lowest earth; enclosed Him whom the heavens can-
not contain in the womb of a virgin; made the mighty Lord
become an infant, enduring all the misery that others feel.
From true God He became true man; from immortal and
impassible, mortal and passible; from divine, human; from
highest wisdom He made Himself in the likeness of ignorant
man; from a master whom angels serve, into the servant of
men. What intellect, considering this, would not be amazed,
and become astonished and speechless, knowing that all this
was done to pay the great debt that human nature owed to
the Divine Being? And because human nature could not of
itself pay this debt, nor open that heavenly door which its
disobedience had closed, there came the Saviour, the power-

* i.e., Good Friday must have fallen on March 25 that year.

23o ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

ful One armed with such great treasure and ready to pay
every debt for us, and restore to us the heritage of our celestial
country. . . . We see Him toiling for three-and-thirty years,
teaching and exhorting the people, and working so many
signs and miracles ; nevertheless, He was called a seducer, and
many times calumniated; driven out and had stones raised
against Him; finally He was betrayed by one who well knew
whom he was betraying ; yet He humbled Himself and washed
his feet, and communicated to him His most holy body and
blood. And with great love He showed him that it was he
who should betray Him, so as to give him time to repent; by
which He showed how great is the goodness of God, who
until a man has taken the last plunge is always urging him
to be converted. . . . We see Him bowed down in the agony
of death, humbling His humanity before the heavenly
Father, that the cup of His bitter Passion might pass from
Him; but the love of our salvation was so kindled in His
imprisoned soul that He subjected Himself to the will of
the eternal Father, and went to meet His enemies, to whom
He gave Himself up as their prey. And being bound, the
heavenly Judge was led before earthly judges, standing as a
meek lamb while those dogs vituperated Him. And they
blindfolded Him from whom nothing can be hidden, crowned
with thorns Him who is the giver of the highest crowns to
all His elect, led as a malefactor to the place of death, with
the heavy cross upon His back, and ill-treated, Him who
knew no sin. And He, being arrived at the place, made His
prayer to the Father, not because He had need of it, but
for an example to us. If we were to try to sound the least
part of the secrets hidden in all the acts of Jesus, especially
in the Passion, time would not suffice. I will leave you to
contemplate this, in whatever manner it shall please His
goodness to inspire you; and let us pass to where, having
taken off His vesture and being stretched upon the cross,
He seemed to say to those cruel tormentors: 'Do it quickly,
delay not; open these veins, so that there may be made
a new fountain, and be ye washed and cleansed, all ye that
shall enter it.' And this, my son, is the course we have to
take, to throw ourselves eagerly into this great sea, and

AND HER COMMUNITY 231

be washed and cleansed, for it has been all done for us. Let
us sign our foreheads with this sacred blood, that with this
sign we may go to the eternal Father and tell Him that
His only Son has paid for us; that we have run and found
the goal all red and glowing, for it is Jesus on His cross,
bleeding and dying for love.

"I am sorry that your and our Mona Lessandra is ill.
Tell her to take care of herself and bear this cross for the love
of Jesus, who gives it her ; greet her and commend me to
her, and may she be happy. I commend myself to Lorenzo,
and to yourself, and so does Mother Syndica. Adieu.
'"Prato, March 18, 1553."

T0 the same

"I have received your very kind letter, and 1 under-
stand what you say. But either you have not understood
my last, or I did not know how to express what I wanted,
since I have given you displeasure in saying that the service
of God must not be forced. The service of God may be said
to be forced in two ways. First, when we serve Him from
fear of His judgements, or from being obliged to do so, on
account of human respect. This I believe, indeed I am
certain, is not your case. The second occurs when a man is
much occupied in various kinds of business; and yet with
all this he wishes to undertake a certain secret service of
God, which is beyond human strength, and thus he always
wants repose in his heart, and he cannot have that tran-
quillity of soul which makes us happy. This is what I fear
happens to my dear son, whom I would remind that God
has placed our souls in this miserable flesh so that one
should serve the other, and thus give us the opportunity
of gaining merit. It is necessary, when the senses try to get
the upper hand, that the spirit should rise up and conquer
by means of virtue ; and when the spirit becomes too
stringent, that reason should step in and prevent the soul
from drawing too much to itself, so that the body is pro-
strated; and this again is hurtful to herself, since we cannot
merit anything, unfortunately, apart from our body. There-
fore, my dear son, when you find that you have much

232 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

temporal business, you cannot undertake spiritual exercises,
for you would perform them in such fashion that your body
would not serve your soul. Therefore such exercises as you
find you can do, see that you direct them to the honour of
God, who in His mercy will accept them, as if you were in
continual contemplation ; and then when you can, make
your prayer and some reasonable penances, giving proper
rest to the body; for the better and longer it can serve the
soul, the greater merit it will have, and your heart will be
both more tranquil and more joyful. It was this I wished
to point out to you in my letter about forced service.
I meant it in this manner. The thought came to me at
times that you do too many penances, too many vigils and
austerities, as I believe did also my other dear son, Antonio
Gondi. Remember both of you that you are not [a professed]
Religious ; that our Lord asks of you one thing, of us
another ; therefore you must both temper severity with
right discretion, and offer all your works to our Lord, who
will graciously accept them. This is my present to you for
this feast that, like dear sons, you may be happy, and find
yourselves in the cave in that holy night, in which, just as
you are, I will present you to Jesus ; and you must offer
me to Him, and the poor sister (Bernarda Giachianotti)
who is writing to you.

" We expect you for this feast, although we did not
give you leave for the two last; so I hope you may have
more satisfaction than you would have had otherwise. And
tell Antonio that to-morrow is his feast, as well as that of
a novice called Sister Ilaria; he may be glad of this, for he
will be greatly helped by all these young angels.

" Your daughter is very well, and on the Epiphany
she will sing the lesson at Mass. She wishes me to tell you
that she will learn it well, and you will be pleased with her.
May God keep you in His holy grace.

" Prato, 'December 21, 1555."

To the same

" I have spoken at length with Vincenzio. He said he
knew he had done a great wrong, and had greatly offended

AND HER COMMUNITY 233

you; he desires to be pardoned, but this being an old affair,
he did not tell you then so as not to cause you trouble.
But now, being constrained, he has done so, and he knows
he has not considered, what is worse and more displeasing
and reprehensible, that he owes two hundred scudi ; but
the man, for the sake of getting the money, will take one
hundred and fifty. And from this time forward, if you will
forgive him and make peace together, he will never do such
a thing again, nor get embroiled with Quirino. Like a good
son, he asks your pardon, as did the prodigal, and he has
made me his mediator. If I merit to receive this grace, and
if you can with one hundred and fifty scudi relieve him of
this debt, I shall be very pleased. But do not be angry, for
I do not wish to force you; but I believe that your son has
spoken the truth. That being so, all will be well.

" It grieves me to hear that you are not well, and that
it is from these troubles; but if you make a good resolution
you will be better in body and soul. And I will tell you,
my dear son, what just now occurs to me: that this son of
yours is the talent that Jesus has given you, with which
you are to gain eternal life. So, like a good trader, go and
traffic with this talent, so that you will hear those much-
desired words: 'Well done, good and faithful servant.'

" Trato, February 4, 1581."

To the same

"Yesterday I wrote to you at length; and now I will add
that however it may not be seemly to come between father
and son, nevertheless I judge it well to do so, that if he
should humble himself again and ask your pardon, you may
forgive him; for in forgiving, you will be doing that which
is pleasing to God. So I trust you will hear me this time, and
so give pleasure to me and to our poor sisters, who are
greatly grieved about it. He has promised me to do nothing
in future against your wish; therefore return to your better
self, like the loving father you have always been. I commend
myself to you. May God protect you. . . .

" He assures me that he has no other debts, and that he

234 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCJ

never will incur any; this he has promised me faithfully. . . .
Adieu.

"Prato, February 5, 1581."

To the same

"I thank you for having yielded to my request to
forgive Vincenzio, which I believe will be the right thing.
As to the payment of his debt, I trust to you, who know
much better than I what to do, and what is most to your
advantage. As I have told you, he has promised faithfully
never to fall again into the like difficulty, and never to have
dealings again with Quirino. And after all I have said to
him — I have been able to speak the truth plainly, and told
him he must keep to it — if he follows my advice, it will be
more for his good than any one else's. And I wish you to
tell him that I will go bail with you for him, with this
understanding, that if he fail in anything, I will never speak
for him again, nor stop to listen to him. This I will promise
you; but only under these conditions will I submit to go
bail, and not otherwise.

"He and your ladies went away yesterday. I shall be
glad to hear of their arrival. To you and to them I corn-
commend myself.

" Prato, February 6, 1581."

(

Lorenzo Strozzi, son of Filippo, grandson of Matteo
Strozzi, was born in July, 1482. He was elder brother to
the Giovanbattista — afterwards called Filippo — so cele-
brated in Florentine history. Lorenzo cultivated letters, and
was a friend of the eminent literary men of his day; he held
honourable office under the Republic, and in different times
always took the side of the upright and loyal citizens. Varchi
calls him "a noble man and a great soul"; and Machiavelli
declares that "in nobility and fortune Lorenzo had few
equals; in intellect, hardly any; and in magnificence, none."
He did not always approve the political proceedings of his
brother, yet was suspected of joining in them. He retired at
last to his villa at Santuccio,and there wrote two treatises, on

AUTOGRAPH LETTER OF THE SAIXT
I" Addressed to LORENZO Srozzi, one of her "Spiritual Sotis"j.

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AND HER COMMUNITY 235

"Patience "and on "Almsgiving," which remain in manu-
script; and the " Lives of Illustrious Men" of the Strozzi
family, of which some fragments were published by Bigazzi
and by Canon Giuseppe Bradi, of the Accademia della Crusca.
The date of his death is not given, but it was probably
about 1549.

The three letters from Mother Catherine to Lorenzo
that here follow — models of practical spirituality in their
brief form — speak for themselves as to her keen sympathy
with the trouble of ill-health and failing powers.

The first of them, it will be seen, is the letter given in
this book as an example of the saint's hand-writing.

To Lorenzo Strozzi

" IHS. Honoured and most beloved in Christ Jesus,
greeting in Him who so much loves you ! Both in obe-
dience to one who has a right to command me, and no less
on account of the sympathy that I feel for your very great
illness, I write you these few words with difficulty, and as
badly as I can write; so that, as you have recommended
yourself to my prayers in a letter addressed to our Reverend
Mother Prioress, and in another to Domenico Marcassino,*
the friend of Jesus, you may be sure that I will not abandon
you as regards the prayers that I can and ought to [offer] to
Jesus, or to His most holy Mother, in whose love He would
fain see us clothed if we wish to be agreeable and pleasing
to Himself; and also because of the great and particular
obligation that we are under to you, for the help given at
various times to our poor monastery.

"May God not consider my sins, but may He answer
your great faith, as far as this may profit for the salvation
of your soul; may He have bowels of compassion for you,
and look upon you with merciful eyes, because in one
moment He may grant you all the graces you desire.
I promise you (God watching over me, not because of my

* Called by Razzi " a man looked upon in Florence as highly versed in spirituality."
He is mentioned in the "Note on the iron necklace of Girolamo Savonarola," referred
to in the preface to Guasti's edition of the "Letters."

236 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

merits, but through His goodness as I hope) that I will
never let you want what little help I can give you. Trust in
God: if He strikes you here below, He will not desert your
soul redeemed by His precious blood. You know that some-
times the shepherd uses threats and blows to bring a
sheep back to the fold; and yet he only does this to have
it in safety, and to deliver it from the devourer and destroyer.
It suffers the blows, and afterwards enjoys the peace and
comfort obtained for it by the one who has loved it so much.
I know that you understand me well. Notwithstanding all
this I should still like you to be heard for your soul's health;
that is, that such excessive pains and sufferings should be at
least diminished, for the honour and the glory of the Lord,
and for your encouragement and that of those who love you
in God. May the Lord reward you for all that you have sent
to us through our friend. All our mothers thank you, as
well as Mother Prioress, who desires me to write our thanks
to you for your charity to the daughters of Jesus; and I also
join with her. May His Majesty grant you increase in His
holy love, and make you understand that all you suffer is
known to Him, and that He will compensate you for all if
you bear it with patience, as I hope you mean to do; or,
rather, as I believe you are doing.

"Give yourself entirely to Him and He will give Him-
self to you; say: ' Do with me what Thou pleasest, give me
either sickness or health, so long as I am pleasing to Thee;
I wish for nothing but to do Thy holy will.' Mother Prioress,
Mother Sub-Prioress, and all, recommend themselves to you.

" Your very unworthy daughter, etc , etc.

"August 23, 1543."

To Lorenzo Strozzi

"How greatly Antonio Cioni recommended you to me
I could not express; but he has asked me to write with my
own hand, which I do for the love of God with some fatigue,
but willing for His sake and yours. Would that I were such
as to be able to give you comfort, but I am not used to
writing such things, so you must excuse me as to this,

AND HER COMMUNITY 237

though I can tell you truly that I pray a great deal for you.
And if you are not blessed with bodily health, and you
suffer this with great patience, your seeming to feel your
soul in danger may not be a reality before Jesus, who
perhaps leaves you in bodily pain in order to purify you
from many past sins, and to purify you here instead of
there where the pain is greater beyond all comparison. And
if your mind seems weakened, it is sufficient that your
will remain fixed on our Lord, who sees how much you
desire not to offend Him. And if you feel as if you offend
Him, there is pain in this, but not guilt, for our Lord sees
your inmost heart, which you must continually offer up to
Him. Try to make as little trouble of it as possible, and
be as cheerful as you can. And I shall always be pleased to
hear of you from your Antonio Cioni. May Jesus and the
Virgin defend you from all evil now and always, until your
last end. Hope in God, for He will in justice give you
consolation.

" Prato, {March 26, i 544."

To the same

"I replied to your last letter of a few days since, being
very sorry for your affliction, and that you feel old and not
very well, and that you have now to be under the charge of
your sons, whereas up to the present you have been father
and master. We feel sure that these things are very hard to
bear. Yet it is necessary for peace' sake to make the best of it.
We are very pleased at your good will towards our monas-
tery, and know that your humanity* would be desirous if
you were able of helping us, your poor daughters in Christ;
for you understand our need, which is always increasing, and
how temporal matters press upon us all round.

" But we are writing to you now again, since we have
received your alms of five golden scudi; they arrived just
in time, as only He knows who inspired you to do this act
of charity. Therefore we are the more bound to pray for
your humanity, both for this benefit and for the compassion
we feel for you. I have commended your charity to the

* Meaning one learned in the Humanities.

23 8 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

Mother Sub-Prioress and to all the sisters, who will not fail
to pray to our Lord that, if it please Him, He will deign
to grant your desire and will repay you for this charity,
which may have been some inconvenience to you, and for
others you have done for us in times past. And we shall
remember you not only now, but always, and especially at
this holy season, as our own father. Again we commend to
you our monastery, and may we always be grateful for all our
Lord sends us, whether great things or little, and not forget
our obligations to the instruments of His bounty. 1 commend
myself to your humanity, as does also Mother Sub-Prioress,*
who joins me in thanking you.

"Your daughters in Christ,
" SISTER MARIA MADDALENA DELLI STROZZI

"and SISTER CATHERINE DE' RICCI.
"Prafo, December 17, 1548."

Of all this group of friends, however, the most inter-
esting, after Filippo Salviati, were Antonio Gondi and
Ludovico Capponi — men of most opposite character, but
almost equally dear in their different ways to Catherine.
Capponi, born in March, 1533, and described as "hand-
some, young, and of noble carriage," when the saint first
knew him, was of the best and most accomplished society
in his native city. Educated at the celebrated school of
Ludovico Buonaccorsi di San Gemignano, whence flocked
the elite of the Florentine youths, Ludovico was not only
attracted by the charms of literature, but vividly impressed
by the heroic deeds of warlike Rome. The master of this
school let his pupils form imaginary plots and conspiracies,
and practised them in oratorical disputes, wishing to give
them the habit of speaking boldly in public before both
princes and people, in which he did but carry on the tra-
ditions of the old republic. Some of Buonaccorsi's disciples
joined in political disturbances, and either died in party-
fights or were executed; others gave themselves up to study,
or filled public civil offices; but Capponi, by the course of

* Sister Maddalena was just then prioress, and St Catherine sub-prioress. Whether
Maddalena Strozzi and Lorenzo were in any way related does not appear.

AND HER COMMUNITY 239

events in his own life, was equally turned from the pursuit
of arms and from that of belles-lettres on going forth into
the world. The rapacity and dishonourable conduct of a
brother engendered in Ludovico's heart a deadly hatred,
which for many years took complete possession of him,
and involved him also in long lawsuits, petitions to autho-
rities, and various proceedings of a disturbing kind, all
having the object of getting justice done to him, and even
of revenging himself on the offending parties in what
seems to have been a very complicated family dispute.
Added to this trouble was the opposition of both relations
and powerful rival suitors to Capponi's marriage with
Maddalena Vettori, a maiden with whom he was deeply in
love and who fully returned his affection. Her father was
dead, and she was in the joint guardianship of a legal
court which opposed the union, and of her mother, who
favoured Ludovico's suit.

The whole story of this young couple is striking, espe-
cially because of the determined and independent attitude of
Maddalena herself — refreshing to read of in a state of society
where hardly a girl dared refuse any man she was told to
marry; but it is too long to give in detail here,* and it must
suffice to say that Ludovico finally triumphed over the other
suitors — partly through influence of the grand duchess,
whom Catherine interested in her protege's cause — and they
were married in 1558. Throughout all his stormy life Ludo-
vico, if passionate and resentful, was always upright and
honourable to a high degree: so much so, in fact, that he was
not always acceptable in a corrupt court; and was the object
of much dislike and many calumnies from the partisans of
the Medici. The date of his making St Catherine's acquain-
tance is not given; but it must have been pretty early in his
career, as we are told that being almost miraculously over-
come with a desire for holiness, like so many others, on his
first visit to her, she helped him by her prayers and instruc-
tions for about thirty years. Violent, determined and pug-

* The full particulars of Ludovico's and Maddalena's love-story, and also of his
family and political troubles, may be found in the French edition of the "Letters," be-
ginning on p. 365.

24o ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

nacious in character as he was, Ludovico found it very hard
to acquire the gentleness demanded by the saint from her
"sons"; but he valiantly kept up the fight with his faults,
and at the end of that time, mainly thanks to the singular
grace gained for him by his "mother's" prayers, he had
attained something very near to perfection in self-control.
The following letters are chosen from a number written to
him, with a few to his wife (a great favourite with her) by
Catherine, who kept up constant communication with them
through all these years. It must be remembered, in reading
these letters, that the "case" referred to several times means
one of Ludovico's petitions to authority concerning some
of his numerous wrongs, in trying to rectify which his de-
voted wife frequently helped him: in one case, particularly,
going herself to present a memorial to the grand duke on
her knees.

These specimens of the Capponi correspondence have
been chosen so as to cover a considerable space of time; and
it is amusing to find, when her "son's" children became
marriageable, how completely Catherine, who in early days
had strongly upheld Maddalenain her independence, adopts
the entirely conventional tone of her contemporaries about
the submission of daughters where matrimony is concerned.

To Ludovico Capponi

" Much honoured and dear to me as a father, greeting, —
Being certain that you, as a good Christian, both cherish
and endeavour with all your strength to bring up and ac-
custom your children to love the things of God; and con-
sidering that our Lord in this impending festival deigned
for love of us to take on our flesh, and to become a litde
child, an abject to human eyes, but in the eyes of faith the
highest Son of God and our Redeemer; in order that your
children may have the opportunity in their tender years of
honouring in childlike manner this mystery, I send you a
simple creche with theholy Virgin and Jesus, so thatyou may
tell them in a way they can understand, how at this holy festi-
val they can stand round the holy Mother and Jesus, and how
they can say Ave Marias for me and all of us, and be good

AND HER COMMUNITY 241

children. And I feel sure that she would be pleased with the
mystery represented, and with their love. And I beg you to
remember me in all your prayers at this holy season, and
say the same to our honoured Mona Maddalena, and for
all of us. To you and her I commend myself; we will not
fail to remember you in all our community and private
prayers at this most holy festival, and your special intention.
Farewell in our Lord.

'"December 1 8, 1573."

'To the same

"By Salvestro, our serving-man, I send you back the
report of your case, which I shall be glad to hear you have
received safely. Besides this I must tell you that I have
read and considered it; it appears to me to be very well
done, and that it will show to whoever reads it with an
open mind that you are in the right. But for all this, as
1 said when speaking to you, and as I now tell you again,
I pray that you will in everything leave your cause in the
hands of Divine Providence, who will not fail to find means,
perhaps when you least expect it, to give you full satisfac-
tion and to justify you to every sort of person. And if it
should not so please Him, leave it all to Him, for He will
perhaps wish to try you in this way, and give you the chance
of merit, and of atoning for past errors; for we are all sin-
ners. Remember all the calumnies heaped upon our innocent
and blessed Lord Jesus. And His most holy Majesty is
powerful to justify you here; and if this should not please
Him, He will not fail to do it there, if your are patient.
That is the only thing that matters; things here pass away
and life here is very short, but there it is eternal. Therefore
I pray* you, dear Ludovico, calm yourself and let this cause
sleep awhile, because you have done what is honourable and
reasonable. Also we know that you are right and have not
erred, and honours and favours have not been wanting to
you. Besides, you must await the Divine Wisdom, who
knows best how and when it will please Him to hear both
you and me. For this I pray always on your behalf, and as

16

242 ST CATHERINE DE' RICC1

I tell you, I shall not cease to help you with continual
supplications.

" It remains only to say that I am well and that I much
wish to hear how you and your consort are, and whether
your coming caused any inconvenience. I commend myself
to you and to her, and greet all the children for me. Valete
in Domino.

" August 26, 1574."

'To the same

"I have received yours and have read it very carefully,
and in truth I feel the greatest compassion for your case.
There are a thousand good reasons on your side, and im-
portant ones too; and as you have not had justice, all the
more one must feel compassion for you, as I do. But
believing that in the hands of our God are the hearts of
princes and of those who govern, we know, the eye of
reason being fortified and enlightened by our holy faith,
that our Lord permits all things for our salvation and for
our greater good. Even if we suffer evil and things against
our honour, nevertheless, my dear Ludovico, neither our
own judgement, nor devils, nor the world of men, can
separate us from His most holy Majesty. Therefore I pray
you, Ludovico, dear to me as a father, in Yisceribm Jesu
Christi, be comforted; time is short, God is for us all, and
He will judge all, and justice will then take its proper
place. And think that if it should not please Him to give
it you here at once, wait, wait; rest, rest your soul and
keep your holy faith, and say: cGod is all-powerful, wise
and good; He sees and loves my salvation and will procure
it; my wants are known to Him; above all, I desire with
all my mind to wish what He wishes.' Do not doubt, bear
all this hard warfare with patience and tranquillity towards
your enemies. Wait in hope; for if not here, in that other
life He will not fail to do you justice.

"Afterwards I read your letter, and learned what
Maddalena has done; also I read the memorial, which is
very well drawn up. I see by the report that His Highness
does not wish to make any revision. Well, Ludovico, the

AND HER COMMUNITY 243

saw works according to the one who uses it, thus it pleases
God. Now, do me this pleasure; take off your thoughts
from doing anything more in defence of this case, because
you see there is nothing to be done. I pray you to embrace
this cross with all the patience you can, and I will not fail
to help you with my prayers, and such as I am, I will do
all I can for you and your family. To you and Maddalena
I commend myself a thousand times. And I say once more,
make an offering to God of this chalice, and say with Jesus
in the garden : Fiat "boluntas tua. I send you back the memo-
rial with this, and shall be glad to know that you have
received it. Valete in Domino.
"September 24, 1574."

To the same

" I had your very kind letter of the 1 5th inst., and as
you told me you were going into the country, I have de-
layed my answer until I feel quite in your debt. I must tell
you first that as I am the lowest servant of Jesus, I do not
wish you to give me the title of 'signora,' because I am
not one; neither must you speak of holy feet and hands,
because I am but miserable flesh, a mere sack of vermin
and a useless creature ; therefore please do not use those
expressions to me, but keep them for those who deserve
them. And I pray you not to be angry when I say this,
because out of the affection that I bear to you in our Lord,
I do not like you to use superfluous terms, which towards
me are a mistake. But be assured that I always do and shall
pray for you and your house, as I would for my own. I pray
you to commend me to Mona Maddalena, and to yourself.
May our Lord preserve you.
"Prato, May 27, 1578."

To the same

" I have received your very kind letter, which I have
read twice, and have considered at the end what the thing
is that your own daughter has spoken to you about. I wish
that for once you would follow my plan, which is that, as
soon as you receive this, you will go and confirm the

244 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

engagement with Girolamo Albizzi before you dine. When
you have done this, you will see how disburdened you
will feel. Especially when you have had the certainty that
you are not displeasing the relations of the deceased nephew,
and that Girolamo Albizzi is not in fault, and that he is not
concerned with the one who committed homicide. All these
things will console you, especially if the engagement be
accepted voluntarily; the more so as your own daughter is
asking it, though it is scarcely a thing that a girl ought to
do. But as we are in such a troublesome world, we have to
act cautiously and consent at times to things we should not
do at others, so as not to make them worse than they might
be. Ease your heart of every difficulty, and do at once
cheerfully what I have told you, for it will bring great
peace to all your house, and God will help you. So do it
cheerfully and heartily, so that, whatever may happen to
your daughter, she will not have to complain of you. And
let me know, if possible by supper-time, that you are all
good friends together. And then, in your own time, follow
the counsel, and profit by the help of His Serene Highness
for the second, with de' Botti, since you have the possi-
bility of settling them also. May God give you grace that
all may turn out honourably; meantime I hope to hear
that it is done, and I give you my good wishes for your
happiness.

"Prato, April 12, 1589."

'To the same

"I have received your letter, and understand the danger,
and then the great grace received (for which I thank God
and the most holy Virgin); also the little satisfaction you
have in the younger girls, who ought not to dare to lift
their eyes in your presence, much less to speak. By this
one can see how the world has deteriorated. And in their
position they should speak differently ; and whoever puts
them up to these things, will have to give a serious account.
May God forgive them all; and may you overcome all by
patience.

"I suppose Antonio has returned you the bundle of

AND HER COMMUNITY 245

your letters which I had, and which I value. To-day I send
you back Maddalena's ; I also thank you for the white
wine and the red. I commend myself to you ; may God
keep you.

" PS. [by Sister Giachinotti.] Our Reverend Mother
can no longer drink the red wine, so highly coloured as
the last; she likes it light and mild, but do not let her
know I told you. I commend myself to you.
"Prato, June 27, 1589."

Ludovico Capponi religiously preserved Mother Cathe-
rine's letters to him ; and below the last he ever received
from her (a little note, dated January, 1590,* when the ill-
ness which ended in her death had already attacked her) he
wrote this memorandum:

" This letter was the last written by the most holy Sister
Catherine to me, so great a sinner, but her devoted son and
servant, although quite unworthy of so many favours and
such high grace. I shall always glory in having been honoured
— I, a wretch — by the last letter she wrote upon earth. 1
entreat her, now that she is living in heaven, to pray for me,
for my whole family, and for the soul of my sweet son
Giulio, that God may have mercy on him, as she strongly
encouraged me to hope."

The Capponi letters number altogether, including many
small notes, over ninety. But before Capponi — even before
their cherished FilippoSalviati — stood Antonio Gondi in the
affections of Catherine and her nuns; and from the account
of his character, quoted from Razzi, he seems well to have
deserved his high place amongst the saint's spiritual child-
ren. She is said, indeed, to have looked upon him from their
first acquaintance as one from whom she could learn, rather
than as a pupil in things divine, and to have depended upon
him for the keeping together and encouraging of her other
" sons," who appear to have been constantly seeing or re-

* In both French and Italian editions this letter is dated 1589; yet the editors speak
quite correctly as if it had been written immediately before her death, which was in Feb-
ruary, 1 5 90. There is therefore clearly a mistake, which has been overlooked, in the date.
It is corrected above.

246 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

ferring to him. Gondi, the date of whose birth we are not
told, was a member of an illustrious family of that name. He
lived, whilst his brothers and relations led the usual lives of
luxurious Florentines, rather the life of a poor Religious
than that of a rich and noble secular ; especially, he always

wore most humble clothing;, keeping: to the cut and fashion

f • •

of his own youth without alteration as he grew old. Re-
maining unmarried, he adopted for his children the shame-
faced poor, and — actually living with his brothers — made
the churches and holy shrines his chief places of resort. He
always attended Divine Office at San Marco, would stand
during all the sermons, and never neglected daily spiritual
reading even in the midst of pressing business. In all things
he was humble and poor in spirit, and mortified to the last
degree. Hence, whilst Catherine would spur on Ludovico
to constantly-increasing exertions towards self-mastery by
means of penance and fervour, she had rather to do her best
to pull Antonio back in his practices, by reminding him that
cloistral austerity might be injurious in his state of life. It
is not, however, through direct communication with him
that we can study her attitude towards Gondi, as there are
no letters to him extant except two perfectly uninteresting
ones on pure business. It is in her incessant references to
Antonio — often by familiar pet names, such as " Toto,"
" Tonino," " babbo Toto," etc. — in letters to others, both
from herself and some of her nuns, and in the frequent
messages sent to him, that the really tender and filial affec-
tion felt for him by them all, and the close intimacy to which
he was admitted owing to the deep respect they had for
him, comes out. In all probability there was very little need
for letters^ as Antonio acted for thirty-seven years of his
life as " Procurator-General " to the nuns, superintending
other workers in their practical affairs, and being in every
way of so much consequence to them that he was doubtless
constantly at Prato, settling business as well as discoursing
on spiritual things, viva toce. We know from the history of
Vincenzio de' Ricci how he helped Catherine in her family
matters, and what thorough confidence she had in him as
guardian of her " boy." He was in full sympathy, also, with

AND HER COMMUNITY 247

her and her community in their favourite devotion to Sa-
vonarola, whose memory was most sacred to him. He studied
the great preacher's works, and devoutly kept relics of him
— as also did Ludovico Capponi, when once Catherine had
acquainted him with the life and writings of one whom she
so deeply venerated.*

Antonio Gondi only survived our saint one year, dying
in 1591, and being buried — as he had desired — under the
pavement of San Marco, where he had spent so many hours
of his life in prayer. He did not forget the needs of the
convent for which he had worked so hard, but left the com-
munity 6,000 crowns by his will.

* About 1572 St Catherine began deliberately employing many ol her "sons" in
the work of trying to revive, especially in the city of Florence, the then almost extinct
devotion to Savonarola. They succeeded so well that by 1583 the old confraternity
of his followers — the Piagnoni — seemed come to life again; and Cardinal Alessandro
de' Medici bitterly complained of its revival, accusing the fathers of San Marco and the
nuns of San Vincenzio of bringing it about — the latter especially, by painting and dis-
seminating pictures of the great friar. But the men of influence in Florence whom
Catherine had set to work amongst the townspeople, and especially amongst youths ot
the better class, had probably done more towards it than any one else. (See, for full
details of this matter, Chap- XII of Tere Bayonne, Vol. II.)

248 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

CHAPTER XVIII

Later years of St Catherine's Life — Her relations, with St M. Magdalen de'
Pazzi — With St Philip Neri — Her friendly intercourse with Seculars
— Her spirit of Religious Poverty in sickness — Her increasing humi-
lity and desire of self-effacement shown by a final act

CONTEMPORARY with Catherine de' Ricci in Florence, though
much younger, was one of those seraphic souls that appear
to pass through this life only to be consumed by the love
of God: Maria Maddalena de' Pazzi, commonly known in
England as St Mary Magdalen de' Pazzi, the Carmelite.
Like Catherine, she was of patrician race; and, also like her,
she had left her father's home with all its splendour and
attractions, whilst quite a girl, that she might possess the
one and only Beloved of her heart in the " desert " of the
cloister. Having entered Carmel, at the convent of Santa
Maria degli Angeli, when sixteen years old, she had flown
towards the things of God with such extraordinary rapidity
that even before the end of her novitiate she had become
the wonder of her companions for her angelic virtues, her
raptures, and the many supernatural favours that it pleased
heaven to grant her. Mother Catherine was at this time
nearly sixty-four; and one can imagine her joy at all she
would hear of the dawning of a sanctity like this so close to
her. History tells us that these two holy souls held personal
intercourse by some miraculous means, but it gives us no
details of the manner in which this happened, or of which
went first to greet the other saint. The only authentic account
left of their relations with each other enables us merely to
conjecture two things: that it was Mary Magdalen who first
supernaturally visited Catherine, as the already illustrious
spouse of Christ, whose glory was then filling all Italy; and

AND HER COMMUNITY 249

that the ecstasies to which both were subject plays no small
part in their holy intimacy.*

At this same epoch, St Philip Neri was reaching the
summit of his renown, and filling the capital of the Christian
world with the good odour of his virtues and his apostolic
zeal. As is well known, having been born in Florence and
brought up under the influence of the San Marco friars, he
had the greatest esteem and affection for the Domincan
Order; and hence, in Rome, kept up a close intercourse
with the Minerva. It was through this priory, and the con-
stant visiting between the Roman fathers and their brethren
in both Florence and Prato, and especially through Fra
Angelo da Diacceto, a friend of both, that St Philip and
St Catherine had early learnt to know and to appreciate
one another. To all his wonderful virtues and holy deeds,
St Philip Neri added a further title to her respect and affec-
tion, in Catherine's eyes, by his ardent devotion toFraGiro-
lamo Savonarola. From his childhood he had religiously
preserved the memory of this great servant of God. He
venerated his relics, kept his picture in his cell, and invoked
him with affection as a father and a powerful protector in
heaven. Benedict XIV reports a vision of St Philip's in con-
nection with this devotion of his, which seemed to give it
divine sanction. He says that when a great assembly of
theologians, under Pope Paul IV, was debating the question
of condemning certain doctrines of Savonarola, Philip —
being in ecstasy before the blessed Sacrament at the Minerva
surrounded by Dominican fathers — saw and heard the con-
clusion of the debate and the announcement of victory for
Fra Girolamo's friends; which was confirmed shortly after-
wards by an official message from the Vatican. f

It is not difficult to believe that two holy souls, with
such similar inclinations, became intimate by means of let-
ters as soon as report and messages made them known to
each other; and it is believed by biographers of both saints
that they held a correspondence for many years. There is,

* For a passage on this point, see f^itaJi Santa Maria MLad.de' Pawi, by Vincenzio
Puccini, chap. bcvi, p. i 50, which describes how this saint, when in ecstasy, saw her letter
delivered to St Catherine, and the latter writing an answer to it.

t Of era Bcned: Xff^, de Ser-vorum Dei Btatijtcatione, etc^ lib. Ill, cap. xrv.

250 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

however, no letter from St Philip to Catherine left, and only-
one from her to St Philip, which is as follows:

To St Tbilip Neri

" I am mortified when I think of you, so continually
occupied in such great things for the glory of God, that
you should write to me, who am a poor vile woman and a
miserable sinner. May God reward you for your great
charity to me. I have asked our Lord to let me serve Him
in health of body this Lent. He has granted me this
grace; for in a moment all my malady left me; but I do not
seem to have deserved it, for I have done nothing. I have,
however, applied to yourself a part of all my works; and I
have prayed the divine Majesty to make and keep you
well, because our holy Church has great need of you. And
be you pleased to pray to Jesus for me, that all the graces
He gives me every hour may not be thrown away by my
fault. Live ever in joy of your end; for to such a faithful
servant as you have been all through your life, God, who
is most just, cannot deny the reward of paradise. Prostrate
on the ground, I ask your blessing.

" Your unworthy daughter, SISTER CATHERINE,

" A sinner at the feet of Jesus.

"San Fincenzio " (undated).

A niece of St Philip Neri's, named Lisabetta, and
married to a certain Cioni, appears both to have known
and to have had some disagreement with the nuns of Prato;
for amongst her uncle's letters there is one, dated October
29, 1574, addressed to some anonymous person whom he
begs to be kind to his niece " who is at law with the sisters
of San Vincenzio." He asks his correspondent to see whether
she is in the right or not: if she is, to help her, and if not
to dissuade her from pleading.

But communication by letter was not enough for these
ardent souls, who would fain inspire each other viva voce
to higher flights of divine love; and they both expressed a
strong desire that God would enable them to meet some
day, even here below. Humanly, however, this seemed

AND HER COMMUNITY 251

impossible; for though St Philip was not, like Catherine,
bound by vow of enclosure, he was completely chained to
Rome by his work there, which nothing ever induced him
to leave. Nevertheless, God, with whom nothing is impos-
sible, brought about the meeting; and the following is the
account given of the matter in Bacci's "Life of St Philip" :*

" Giovanni Animuccia — a penitent of Philip's, living
in Rome, but a native of Tuscany — having gone to Prato,
and visiting Sister Catherine de' Ricci, of the Dominican
Order (now commonly called the Blessed Catherine of
Prato), asked her if she knew Father Philip Neri; the
servant of God replied that she knew him by reputation
but not by sight, though she had a great desire to see and
speak to him. The following year, Giovanni returned to
Prato, and went to visit her again, when she told him she
had seen Father Philip and spoken to him. Philip had
never left Rome, and Catherine had remained in Prato.
Giovanni, arrived once more in Rome, went and told the
holy Father Philip what had happened at Prato between
him and Sister Catherine de' Ricci; and Philip confirmed
the truth of all that the servant of God had told him.

Furthermore, in presence of several persons, the same
venerable father, speaking of Catherine after her death in
1590, said openly that he had seen her in her lifetime, and
described her features in detail; although (as has been said)
Philip had never been to Prato and Catherine had never
come to Rome. The portrait of the servant of God having
been printed, Philip exclaimed on seeing it: 'That picture
is not like! Sister Catherine had different features! '"f

There is a well-painted picture in Florence representing,
from imagination, this mysterious meeting of the two saints,
into which the artist has introduced Savonarola — as if
descending in glory from heaven — as the common object of
their special devotion.

* Lib. Ill, cap. xi, no. 11.

t In the Bull of St Philip Neri's canonization, Urban VIII thus expresses himself:
*' Iterumque cum in Urbe maneret, tune in humanis agentem Catharinam Ricciam, sub
rcgula Sancti Augustini monialem, Pratis in Etruria commorantem, longo temporis
spatio est allocutus." In case the mention ot "St Augustine's" Rule should puzzle any
reader, it may be well to state that the Dominican Rule is founded on the Augustinian.

252 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

But whilst Catherine thus earnestly sought after inter-
course with the saints, she grew none the less affectionate,
as time went on, towards her many ordinary friends and
associates in the world, conspicuous amongst whom was the
ill-used wife of the grand duke Francesco, Joanna of Austria.
The latter, ever since the year 1567 — two years after her
marriage — had made a confidante and adviser of the saint,
and their intimate friendship continued until Joanna's death
in 1577. After her friend's decease, Catherine loyally de-
voted a large portion of her prayers and penances, in ful-
filment of a promise made to the duchess, to obtaining the
salvation of Francesco, who died only three years before
the saint herself.*

To the last years of her life she kept up gracious and
cordial relations with all the seculars that she had to do
with, showing her interest in and esteem for her friends by
every delicate thought and attention that her state allowed.
Thus, she specially loved to send presents of fruit, con-
fectionery, etc., such as the convent could produce, on
occasion offcasts or fastsf that made the gift appropriate; and
this because kind feeling towards her fellows made her glad to
seize on any opportunity that she might legitimately take
for fulfilling customary social obligations. When age came
upon this saint, necessarily drawing her soul closer and
closer to her God as the time approached for going to join
Him, everything one reads of her shows how her heart
went out more, rather than less, to all with whom she had
human ties, and what pleasure it gave her to contribute to
their innocent earthly enjoyments as well as to their spiri-
tual perfection.

* Many interesting details of this friendship between Catherine and Joanna, and a
few of the letters connected with it, nre extant; but, as space fails for giving them in the
present volume, readers interested are referred to Pere Bayonne's Life, and to Guasti's
introductory notes to his Letters.

•f" The sending of sweetmeats, etc., in Lent, to friends or acquaintance, was a frequent
practice of the time, and is referred to in several letters of the saint. It was done, not
for the sake of treating people to extra luxuries in the penitential season, but in order
to help them through the severe fast by providing them with things allowed by the
Church at "collation," or supper, which should act as condiments to their frugal fare,
and so encourage them not to break the Lenten rule. San Vincenzio seems to have
been rather famed for the making of sweet things of various kinds ; and Catherine was
fond of treating people, in whose spiritual state she was interested, like babies in this
particular.

AND HER COMMUNITY 253

Joined to this lenient spirit towards others, however,
was an ever-increasing sternness and severity towards her-
self. Even where some absolutely necessary care for her
health was concerned she never for a moment forgot what
was demanded by her state of life, and allowed not the
slightest relaxation of those monastic virtues, which she had
undertaken to observe till death, to creep in under the
excuse of needful dispensations. Never would she beg,
from even the richest and most intimate of her friends,
for anything that would be a comfort or relief to herself,
until positively compelled to make such a request by really
extreme need. Thus, in the case of wine — the common
drink, when of a common sort, of an Italian community —
Catherine's constant illnesses so weakened her stomach
that, whilst she could actually not do without it, as she
would doubtless have liked, by the time she was fifty
she was unable to take the coarse, rough kind that was
used in the convent. One day, therefore, Bernarda Gia-
chinotti, the syndica, when acting as the saint's secretary,
contrived to put a private postcript to a letter to Ludovico
Capponi, telling him what was the only quality of wine
that suited their mother's weak digestion. Ludovico was
only too glad to know this, and to provide what was wanted;
and he wrote to Catherine herself, saying that as he had
heard of her being ill he had got a few small barrels of
Chianti for her special use, which were now at her disposal.
The answer that she sent him exactly shows forth her ideal
of Religious perfection in such a matter: her objection to
accepting, even for health, a gift for herself so valuable as
to infringe in the least degree upon the rules of common
life and poverty; but her readiness, both from delicate
feeling towards the giver and from the " spirit of the
poor" which begs and takes alms in the name of Christ, to
accept one small enough to be merely a personal charity :

"Molto onorando e Fratello carissimo" she writes, "I am
very grateful to you for your benevolent thought and your
affectionate kindness to me. But as it does not belong to
the rules of common life that a nun can have anything

254 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

of her own and for her particular use, I may not and
cannot allow a small barrel of wine to be set aside from
community use to be exclusively reserved for me. Do me,
then, the pleasure of keeping this provision for yourself;
and when I need any, I promise you that I will ask for it
from you just as freely as I should from my own brother.
For if people only send me a bottle or two of this wine,
as you have sometimes done, our sisters are pleased for me
to accept it from the kind hand that offers it; and then
I express my gratitude as I have always done to you."

This was written about 1573. Not till many years later,
after terrible sufferings which had reduced her almost to
extremity, did she keep her promise, and write (1587) as
follows: "Fratello carissimo, as I have now been ill for several
days, I should like to have a little of your Ymo vermiglio, but
of very soft quality, for this illness has so irritated my tongue
that I can bear nothing strong or sharp; and even soft things
hurt me. Have patience with me ! You see I am treating
you with real confidence. One bottle of this wine will be
enough."

As Catherine drew near the end of her earthly course,
that humility which had always been her strong characteristic,
and which was at the root of her simple and straightforward
interpretation of duty in every department, so continually
deepened that every day seemed to increase her utter con-
tempt of self. She took every opportunity that offered of
either escaping or repudiating any expression of respect or
admiration from others; and did this in such a matter-of-
course and natural way as to prove her genuineness. We
have seen in one of her letters to Capponi how distressed,
and even displeased, she was at his calling her by any titles
of dignity or using terms towards her which implied a
belief in her sanctity. Another Florentine gentleman, the
Cavaliere Ricasoli, whose life we are told she had once saved
by a miracle, was deeply impressed by an interview he had
with her in after years, which strikingly brought out
the low opinion she had of herself. In 1588, two years
before her death, being on a pilgrimage to Lucca with his
wife and children, Ricasoli stopped at Prato simply to pay

AND HER COMMUNITY 255

his respects to Mother Catherine. As soon as he was in
her presence at the parlour grille he began, in graceful and
courtly terms, to reproach the saint with not having given
him any commands to serve her for a long time, and having
thus prevented him from proving his gratitude for the signal
service that she had rendered him. He was about to
recall the incidents of the wonderful event, when Cathe-
rine dexterously turned the conversation to another sub-
ject; and she continued to make this subject so interesting,
and to fix her visitors' attention on it so completely for
the remainder of her interview, that they forgot everything
else until they left. They took their leave quite charmed
with her sanctity and attractiveness; but when once out-
side the convent, the single thing that remained in their
memories was the extraordinary humility that she had shown,
about which they were afterwards never tired of talking to
their friends.*

In the last year of her life St Catherine crowned her
numerous acts of humility by a peculiarly great and solemn
one. She had been gradually discovering, for some time
past, the habit that her daughters had of keeping written
records of her own extraordinary supernatural favours: espe-
cially, she learnt, Sister Maddalena Strozzi did this. It was
a real grief to her to know it, truly believing as she did in
her own worthlessness, and having a real horror of being
handed down to posterity — either within or without the
convent — in what she looked upon as an entirely false light.
It would appear, however, that she either did not like to
make much of the matter by discussing it with the sisters,
or that she doubted their strict obedience on this one point
if she were to forbid the preservation of such records; for
she merely awaited an opportunity of getting hold of the
objectionable manuscripts, that she might destroy them her-
self. This she found one day in the year 1589, when all the
choir nuns happened to be in the chapel together for some
time. Then, using her right as prioress to enter the cells,
Catherine went round to every one that she had reason to
suspect of containing written notes on her doings, hastily

* Seraf. Razzi, lib. Ill, cap. i, p. 102.

256 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

collected all papers that she could lay hands on, which she
thrust into a bag, and, going to the bake-house, where an
old lay-sister was just then heating the oven, said anxiously:
" Sister, make haste to burn these papers, for woe to us if
they should be found in the house ! " The old sister, who
was specially devoted to the saint, suspected nothing but
that here, as her mother told her, were bad writings, and
threw them into the fire instantly as she was bidden. A few
minutes burnt up all these really precious records, and
Catherine went away rejoicing;* but what her daughters
said on discovering her act we are not told ! The memory
of it was, however, perpetuated amongst her townsmen; and
as late as about 1843, when they were keeping in Prato
the centenary of her canonization, a certain Tuscan poet —
Pietro Odaldi, of Pistoja — celebrated the saint's humility,
as shown by this act, in verse. His view was that, great as
were the wonders, whether of prayer, ecstasy, or penance,
that the cells of San Vincenzio's convent had witnessed
during the saint's life, nothing equalled the grandeur of the
moment when the holy prioress had deliberately given to
the flames, as she believed, all written record of her virtues
and glories.f

Thus did Catherine de' Ricci, by nearly her last deed,
unconsciously impress on her own life a lasting mark of that
virtue which she had ever declared to be the fundamental
one of all true sanctity. Sister Maddalena Strozzi, in refe-
rence to her strong feeling on this point, related how she her-
self had one day recommended to the saint's notice a person
with great reputation of holiness ; and how she had then
asked in confidence whether she believed this person to be

* Seraf. Razzi, lib. Ill, cap. i, p. 104.

-j- Though the papers thus destroyed were of incalculable value to future biographers,
there were happily one or two of her nuns' manuscripts which did not perish after all,
either because they had been more carefully hidden than others within the convent, or
because they had been already given into the charge of the prior or confessor who had
taken them away. Two specially mentioned as having been thus preserved, and made
use of afterwards, are: (i) A manuscript written by Sister Maddalena Ridolfi (one of the
widows spoken of in a former chapter, who died in the convent after St Catherine),
which was used in the process of beatification; and (2) a manuscript compiled, between
May and September, 1583, by Sister Tommasa Martelli, which contains many incidents
of the saint's life, and in which are copies of one of her letters and of two "chapters" to
to her nuns. (See Guasti's Lettere, etc., page cvi of Italian edition; page 70* of French
translation.)

AND HER COMMUNITY 257

as holy as was reported. Catherine had replied without hesi-
tation: " Yes — if she is humble; for whenever I see a soul
established on this foundation, I believe it capable of every
good thing. But if I should see a person working miracles,
and did not find the virtue of humility in his soul, I should
refuse him my esteem and think nothing of him."*

* Le Lettere, etc., Document!, p. I 10.

258 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

CHAPTER XIX

The Saint's interior life during her latter years — Her last illness — Death
(1590) and funeral — Posthumous Apparitions and Miracles — Open-
ing of the Cause of her Beatification — It is postponed — Celebrated
Incident in the Process — She is beatified (1732) — Her Relics trans-
lated— She is Canonized (1746)

SUCH, then, were Catherine's relations with her kind — such
the outward manifestations of her virtue — as the end came
near; and just as these exterior, spontaneous acts and words
often betrayed the largeness of her charity and the depth of
her humility to friends outside, so, we are told, did many
things in her demeanour unconsciously betray to those with-
in the convent something of her almost hourly increasing
union with the Beloved of her soul. Age and suffering made
no difference to her fulfilment of all possible active commu-
nity duties, nor was her high supernatural state shown by
any deliberate change in her outward life. She daily talked,
worked, gave orders, dictated letters, remaining always calm,
peaceful and affectionate, to nearly the very end, as usual.
Only, as she did all this, it was more and more clear to all
around how no exterior things at all — neither the being
surrounded by her nuns, nor visits of friends, nor public
ceremonies, nor any concourse of people — could draw her
thoughts for a moment away from God. They saw how, on
the contrary, every person or thing that she had to do with
had come to serve as a means of ever-stronger attraction
towards Him, to such a degree that she could not regard
a creature of any kind save as a reminder of her Creator.
Numerous beautiful stories are told by the old biographers
of the supernatural atmosphere that appeared to surround
the holy prioress during the last stage of her earthly life —
stories of how a flower, a stream, even a thing connected
with the prosaic daily work of the house — would throw her,
as of old, into an ecstasy; of how a glory often shone round
her, visible to all, as she knelt in a state of rapture after Com-

AND HER COMMUNITY 259

munion; and of how her angelic purity of body and soul
was from time to time made manifest to her sisters by a
sweet and delicate fragrance — like to no earthly perfume —
that accompanied her presence or remained where she had
been. They tell, too, of heavenly visitants — of the Blessed
Mother of God, of saints and of angels, who came to give
her a foretaste of the joys to which she was hastening, by
their company.

But no spiritual joys or heavenly visions altered the
saint's desire to suffer to the end with her Lord. It has been
shown in the last chapter how stern she was to herself, as
her illnesses increased with age, in the matter of any sort of
relief from better food or whatever might be called a luxury.
In addition to this unyielding negative self-denial, she went
on unceasingly with the positive severities of exterior bodily
penances, which nothing would induce her to give up un-
less when actually incapacitated. Besides continuing to wear
her painful hair-shirts and girdles, and keeping up her con-
stant fasts and abstinences, she never relented in her practice
of three severe nightly disciplines, which she seems even to
have increased in degree as time went on.

The sufferings, throughout which Catherine thus heroi-
cally acted, were in themselves enough to have served as
penance for many ordinary lives. We have seen, by the
numerous references to it in her letters, how frequently she
was laid up with attacks of fever all through her life. These
attacks never appear to have decreased, and often reduced
her to such weakness that she was in bed for weeks together,
whilst they were frequently accompanied by great pains.
Besides these natural illnesses, the saint suffered severely
from the permanent, sharp pangs produced by the sacred
stigmata, which never left her; and the excessive strain upon
her natural faculties caused by her frequent raptures, when
the spiritual powers were exercised to a degree that unavoid-
ably disturbed and weakened the corporal ones, kept her in
a chronic state of excessive delicacy. Hence, bodily comfort
became a thing unknown to her, and the very thought of
rest impossible in connection with this world: and here
came in perhaps the most heroic of all her acts; for, through

260 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

all this, not only was she full of supernatural courage and
readiness to suffer cheerfully with her crucified Spouse, but
she kept up her bright, serene and sympathetic intercourse
with all around her, unaltered, in the midst of her worst
illnesses, and as all her sufferings increased with age. Thus,
to the very end, she was not only the spiritual head and
mother — the supernatural guide and publicly acknowledged
glory — of her community, but their daily joy and delight,
from the freshness and grace of her nature, as completely
as she had been in her earliest days of office when almost
a girl. To her outside friends, too, there had been no observ-
able difference, all having been accustomed to hearing of her
sufferings and to seeing her bravely overcome them, when
the time came for her departure.

It was on January 23, 1590, that her last illness came
on. Several members of her family had come that day from
Florence to see her, and Catherine had let them take up her
attention so entirely as to neglect necessary care of herself.
Towards evening, when they left, though extremely tired
and having barely broken her fast, she insisted on going to
Compline, for which it was just the hour; and this proved
to be the last time that the saint was to be present in the
choir with her daughters. At seven o'clock she ate her
modest repast; and at nine she was seized with violent pains
in her side, which tormented her without ceasing for four
days. On the last of these days, the 2yth, grave complica-
tions appeared; and as no care in nursing, and no treatment
of the doctors who were sent for, seemed able to hinder
rapid aggravation of the bad symptoms, Mother Catherine's
devoted children began to add the dread of losing her to
their grief at seeing her terrible pain. In the midst of it all,
however, she still retained her calm gentleness and sweet
smile. Only when they told her that she must submit to
a very severe remedy that had been administered in a former
illness, she said quietly: " 1 know that when Jesus wishes
to mortify us, He always finds the means." The said remedy
had before almost stifled her; so, fearing the same result,
she prepared for speedy death, and began by humbly beg-
ging pardon of all the sisters present for "not having been
all that she ought have been, but a great sinner and a bur-

AND HER COMMUNITY 261

den to the convent." Then, comforting them with gentle
words, she exhorted them to persevere in holy observance
and community life, promising to be their protectress before
God; and afterwards she got them to support her with their
arms, so that she might creep round her cell to two little
altars she had there: one with a crucifix and the other with
a statue of our Lady holding the Divine Infant. At each of
them she made a long prayer, asking our Lord and His
Mother that she might live a little longer if God willed,
"Not for myself, but for my poor daughters." Then, sur-
rendering herself utterly to the fat of Divine Providence,
she entreated the Blessed Trinity, by that love which had
created her in His own image and likeness, to forgive all
her sins and grant her salvation. She further begged the
Blessed Virgin, as refuge of sinners, not to desert her in
the last moment, and all the holy angels and saints to be
with her in her need, and conduct her to her eternal home.
On January 3 1 she asked for the appointed remedy,
which consisted in five small globules of terebinth, and
took them with eyes fixed on the crucifix, and in honour
of the Five Sacred Wounds. That same evening, as her
illness increased, her loving daughters thought that the
crucifix which had formerly been the medium of such
wonderful miracles in her cell might be a comfort to her,
and fetched it from the church, not without a hope that
her cure might be miraculously worked by its means.
Catherine, when she saw it brought in, stretched forth
her arms with joy to receive it, and — pressing it against her
breast — poured forth many tender ejaculations to her cruci-
fied Spouse, thanking Him fervently for His sufferings on
her behalf, lamenting her own ingratitude, and humbly
begging again for her own salvation, for which she said
she confidently hoped, " not through presumption, but
from love of Him." She further protested that she had
always wished to die on the cross with Jesus, and offered
herself once more as a victim to the Divine Majesty. She
finished with an earnest prayer that our Lord would free
her from all fear of death, so that she might go full of
hope to meet Him; and as she uttered this last request, it
is said that a terrible noise was heard outside her cell,

262 ST CATHERINE DE' RTCCI

accompanied by a shaking of the whole house that felt like
an earthquake. The nuns were convinced that this dis-
turbance was one final effort of the enemy of souls, venting
his impotent rage against the holy woman whose life had
snatched so many from his grasp.

On February I they asked Catherine if she would like
to receive Viaticum, which she said was her most earnest
wish. She immediately prepared for it by sacramental con-
fession, and afterwards remained for an hour in prayer,
which seemed like an ecstasy. As she came to herself they
heard her murmur softly, "We must submit to the will
of God," and hence concluded that she had had her
approaching end positively revealed to her. The Holy
Eucharist was then brought in solemn procession to her
cell; and as she heard the little bell announcing its arrival,
she cried, "Here is my Jesus — let us go to meet Him ! "
and insisted on being helped off her bed (where she lay
fully dressed) and supported, kneeling on a little stool, by
two sisters. Her face, we are told, was so radiantly beauti-
ful at this moment that no one would have guessed her to
be close to death. When the Blessed Sacrament entered
the room, she adored it by a deep prostration; and, gazing
at it with a look full of confidence, once more thanked her
Saviour aloud for all He had done for her. Once more,
also, before receiving the sacred elements for the last time,
she turned and begged pardon of her weeping children
" for not having always helped and comforted them as well
as she could have wished"; and then she made her oral
profession of faith in the Real Presence and in all the
truths of the Holy Catholic Church: after which she de-
voutly received her Lord's body and blood, and knelt on
between her two supporters for some little time in fervent
petition and thanksgiving.

Two hours later, Catherine saw individually a great
many of the community who came to give her their last
confidences and to receive her advice, and for each one she
had some special " words of life " to comfort her and some
special light to give. After these interviews were over, she
still had the strength and clearness of mind necessary to
spend a few hours in giving minute directions about the

AND HER COMMUNITY 263

administration of the temporal and spiritual affairs of the
convent. But time pressed. They administered the sacra-
ment of Extreme Unction; and she received it with fervour,
answering the appointed prayers with her sisters, and even
singing with them — again kissing the miraculous crucifix
and uttering more loving ejaculations. This solemn cere-
mony over, she sent for the whole community to her bedside,
in divisions, taking in turns the separate groups or classes
of which the sisterhood was made up — the postulants, the
lay-sisters, the novices, the "juniors," and the "ancients"
— and to each little flock gave, with her dying lips, such
particular instructions as were exactly suited to its own
condition. One only of these final exhortations shall be here
cited, showing the spirit of them all, i.e., her last words
to the "mothers" of the community. She recommended
specially to them peace and union amongst themselves;
zeal for the honour of God, for regular observance, and
for the perfect fulfilment of their vows. She told them that
their part was to watch most carefully that the question of
"mine and thine" was never introduced into their convent,
but that everybody there persevered in the common life
after the manner that she had established; and she concluded
by this solemn declaration: "That the spirit of possession
in a monastery was poison to the love of God, and the
source of innumerable disputes and great disquiet of con-
science, for any one who was bound by a vow of poverty."

Then, her last duty to her children accomplished, Cathe-
rine turned away finally from everything but her God, quietly
dividing her attention between thoughts of our Lord in
His Passion, and the saying of her usual Taters^ A*ues^ and
psalms. On the very threshold of eternity, as her strength
gradually ebbed, she was as calm and collected as she had
been on ordinary days — everything about her simple and
unexaggerated — her death, in short, merely the act for
which every moment of her life had prepared: the going to
be happy for ever with her Maker. The last prayer whose
sound the watchers caught on her lips was an "Our
Father."

The end came at about two o'clock in the morning of
the Purification, on a Friday. A little while before this

264 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

hour, the nuns kneeling round the saint's bed thought they
heard some peculiarly sweet singing in the distant novitiate,
and a few of them stole out of the cell to listen to it. Then
they found that it was not within the house at all, but that the
sounds, of entrancing beauty, seemed to come from above;
and they felt convinced that nothing less than a choir of
angels was making this divine harmony. For more than a
quarter of an hour the exquisite sounds lasted, bringing deep
consolation to their hearts. Moreover, they seemed by-and-
by to hear distinctly sung the Veni,sponsa Christi! and just as
they believed these words to be uttered by angels' voices,
Catherine murmured the request, " Might she die soon,
because her poor children were so tired out with watching?"
Then, as if knowing that she was heard, she suddenly raised
her right hand and closed her own eyes, just as she had
been used to do for her sisters, stretched out her feet and
arms in the form of a cross, and without any outward sign
or movement gave up her soul to God.

At the moment of her death, one of those revelations,
so often granted to holy people when saints are called away,
came to a nun in a convent at Prato. She was spending the
night in vigil, when she suddenly saw in vision a magnifi-
cent procession of saints, followed by our Lord Jesus Christ
Himself, who was bearing a glorified soul to heaven.
Whilst gazing in delight on this apparition, she heard the
passing-bell at San Vincenzio toll for Mother Catherine,
and immediately realized what the splendid vision had
meant. The same sight was also seen, at the same moment,
by a man in Prato named Baccio Verzoni, one of the saint's
spiritual sons, who instantly recognized her in the soul
led by Christ to glory. He roused his household to tell
them of the vision, but they tried to persuade him that it
was a fancy, caused by his having thought so much about
Catherine's illness; when the passing-bell suddenly proved
to them also that it was really a revelation of her death and
of her eternal happiness at the same time.

Later on in the same day two or three apparitions of the
saint herself, as if in bodily form, announced the certainty
of that salvation that she had so confidently hoped for, to

AND HER COMMUNITY 265

different people. A little niece of hers, Fiammetta de' Ricci,
who was being brought up at San Vincenzio, saw her aunt,
as she thought, kneeling in prayer in the sanctuary, her nun's
habit all shining with radiant beauty, some time after they
had told her that she was dead. The child thought she must
be after all alive, and was trying to get out of her own place
to run to her, when she saw her suddenly disappear as the
nuns brought in the dead body on a bier, and laid it where
her aunt seemed to have been kneeling; and Fiammetta
understood that she had come from heaven to visit her.
Catherine also appeared in great glory to some nuns of Santa
Maria degli Angeli in Florence; whilst St Mary Magdalen
de' Pazzi was granted a marvellous vision of her happiness
amongst the blessed, during an ecstasy.

Notwithstanding their absolute assurance of their holy
mother's happiness, however, the nuns of her convent are
described as having given way just at first, when the news
of her actual death spread through the whole community,
to such violent grief that they even neglected to do the
required services to her body, and left it for a time un-
tended just as it lay, crosswise, on the bed where she had
died. Razzi, and the Compendium, are both quoted as affirm-
ing that God Himself then took care of the holy mortal
remains, and invested them with such beauty and splendour
that when the sisters controlled themselves sufficiently to
return to the cell to do the last offices for their prioress,
they could hardly gaze on the face for the dazzling rays
that from time to time came forth from it. All the super-
natural favours that Catherine had received in the corporal
marks of our Lord's Passion were moreover now made
clear that all might see: the stigmata of the five sacred
wounds and the marks of the thorny crown; whilst the
mysterious " ring of espousals " was made visibly resplen-
dent to some of the nuns. The heavenly fragrance, too, that
had so often come from her when living was emitted by the
virginal corpse.

Such a sight comforted and cheered the desolate nuns,
and they prepared the saint's body for its last resting-place
with loving care, laying it — apparently embalmed, and of

266 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

course clothed in full Religious dress — on a bier adorned
with flowers. From the cell they then reverently carried it
through the whole convent, as though wishing every part
of the house to be blessed by its presence, and especially
the galleries and cloisters which Catherine had so loved
during life. Lastly, having laid down the bier for a short
time in their own choir — that their mother might, as it
were, bid farewell in person to that place of her chief
delight on earth — they bore it into the public church,
where it was placed on a raised platform that all might see
it. For it need hardly be said that neither Florence nor
Prato, after the many years of their intense love and
veneration for the saint, would have consented quietly to
being deprived of a last sight of her whom they counted a
glory to her native city. Her body was left in the church
for two days, so that the crowds who came might freely
visit it: and numbers, not content with looking, pressed up
to the bier to touch the holy corpse with some sort of object,
entreating Catherine's intercession with the fullest confidence
in her sanctity.

It is a pleasure to know that the saint's care for her
young brother Vincenzio was returned at the time of
her death by his care to do what he could to transmit her
likeness to posterity. He was still devotedly fond of her; and
at the first news of her dangerous illness had come and
•established himself in the convent guest-parlour, between
which and the sick-room the portress sister constantly went
and came, bringing Vincenzio information as to every
incident of the illness. After her death, whilst the body
was still on the bier, he had a plaster mould taken of his
sister's face; and, from this, the sisters afterwards com-
missioned an artist — name unknown — to paint a picture
of their mother as she lay in her coffin surrounded and
crowned with flowers.

Vincenzio kept watch in the church for the two days
of his beloved sister's "lying-in-state" there; and with him,
also for the whole time, her faithful " son," Ludovico
Capponi, kept guard. Both men were much and sympa-
thetically noticed, it is said, by the crowds assembled, for

AND HER COMMUNITY 267

the noble gravity and recollection of their demeanour, and
also for the deep grief — the tears and sobs — which they
could not control when the body was finally carried away
out of sight for its burial.

This was done on the Saturday night, the bier being
then taken inside the convent, for the nuns themselves to
perform the last funeral rites. But, to give the people of
Prato one more opportunity of seeing the remains of their
adored Mother Catherine, instead of being taken straight
out of the church it was carried through the assembled
throng across the piazza of St Dominic, down the great
avenue that leads to the chief door of San Vincenzio, and
so back into that home where " Alessandra Lucrezia Ro-
mola de' Ricci " had presented herself as a humble postu-
lant fifty-five years ago.

The sisters, now in full possession of their mother's
body, spent that night, and the greater part of Sunday, in
prayers and vigils. On Sunday evening they chanted solemn
office; and then — each sister separately having reverently
kissed the saint's hands in final farewell — they placed her
in a leaden coffin, enclosed in a wooden chest. This was
placed within a deep niche in the vestibule of their own
interior chapel, underneath the miraculous image of the
Blessed Virgin, through which the convent had been so
wonderfully protected at the sacking of Prato. This niche
was then walled-up, and on it was graven in Latin the
following simple inscription:

Born the 23rd of April, A.D. 1522
Died the 2nd of February, 1590

To the Memory

of
the Reverend Mother

SISTER CATHERINE

of Pierfrancesco de' Ricci of Florence

Who, favoured by the grace of the Almighty,

Magnificently increased and endowed this Monastery.

From her devoted Daughters in Christ

as having deserved well of them

She lived 67 years, 9 months and 9 days.

268 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

So lived, and so died, the " Saint of Prato." It only
remains now to give, as shortly as may be, some account of
such posthumous incidents — natural and supernatural — as
were of importance with regard to her after-fame.

The community of San Vincenzio, after burying her
who had been for over forty years the head and centre of
their daily lives, fell for a time — very naturally — into a kind
of melancholy calm: a state of passive mourning, from which
they found it difficult to rouse themselves to real interest
in anything. The very earliest supernatural events recorded
as having happened in the convent after Catherine's death
are certain appearances of their beloved prioress to the nuns,
which caused the first break in their gloom. Old Taddea —

O

the lay-sister who had burnt the manuscript for her — was
the first person consoled by a vision; and next to her the
sister who perhaps felt more completely " lost " without the
saint than any other member of the community — Sister
Bernarda Giachianotti, of whom so much has been heard
as Catherine's devoted " secretary." Her departed mother
seemed to take pity on her forlorn condition and determine
to put an end to her loneliness. After suffering for a short
time from an oppressive sense of void in her existence,
Sister Bernarda suddenly began to feel as if Catherine was
close by her side, just as she used to be when dictating her
letters; and thenceforward she heard the voice she so loved
whisper in her ear every day: " My child, make haste to
put your affairs in order, for you have no time to lose."
Moreover, every morning at Mass, when the time came for
Communion, she distinctly felt her mother's hand gently
pushing her towards the holy table, as she used to do in
lifetime to any of the sisters whom she expected to receive
some extraordinary grace. Bernarda confided these things to
one or two of the sisters who were her special intimates,
and all were unanimous in assuring her that it could mean
nothing else but that the saint was calling her and bidding
her prepare to die well, of which she was easily persuaded.
She accordingly did her very utmost to prepare; and two or
three months afterwards, still hearing her mother's voice in
her ear, she died as if answering to her call by a last Adsum !

AND HER COMMUNITY 269

After these first appearances, Razzi says that for nearly
two years after her death Catherine continued to live in spirit
amongst her children, so that she almost seemed to be still
their true prioress. First to one and then to another would
she either actually appear or make her voice heard, and for
every sort of purpose — now to decide a point of conscience;
now to set a scruple at rest; now simply to cheer and con-
sole in sadness, or to encourage those who had to take office
to face the responsibility bravely: and then, again, to help
her children in temporal difficulties by working miracles in
their favour.

Simultaneously with these supernatural occurrences
within the convent, and for long afterwards, many miracles
were wrought outside; and these, not only in Prato itself,
or in Florence, but all through Tuscany and in other parts
of Italy. From the time of her death onwards — so great and
so wide-spread was the belief in her sanctity — Catherine was
universally invoked, in illness or trouble, by people of every
class; and numbers of those who asked her prayers obtained
their requests either at home, or on visiting her tomb.*
Many brought pictures, statues, or symbolic objects, as ex
votos after receiving favours, to the convent; and on this
point Pere Bayonne blames the nuns for not having taken
sufficient trouble to preserve such offerings in honour of
their saint, by keeping them apart from other decorations
of the church or convent as special records of the miracles
worked through her intercession.

Still, though their modesty might make them a little
backward to accept public homage for their deceased mother,
the nuns did all they could themselves to get her memory
perpetuated. They had several portraits of her both painted
and engraved; and at different periods in succession her tomb,
and the walls around it, were decorated with pictures of sacred
subjects by artists of various schools. The first definite
impulse towards moving for Catherine's beatification came,

* These references to visits to Catherine's "tomb" are somewhat puzzling, as the tomb
at this time was merely the walled-in place inside the enclosure. We can only suppose
that the "vestibule" described above, as containing the niche under the miraculous image,
was at the end of the nuns' choir, next to the public church; and that therefore it was
visible, probably through a grille, to the faithful in general.

270 ST CATHERINE DE' RICC1

only twelve years after her decease, to Mgr Caccia,then lately
made Bishop of Pistoja and Prato. He made his first pasto-
ral visitation to San Vincenzio in 1 602, on which occasion
there was a fresh apparition of the saint, when she appeared
amongst some of the oldest nuns who were accompanying
the bishop round the convent, looking just as she used to
look when on earth. Both he and the sisters took this as a
special intimation that an official enquiry into her sanctity
should be obtained; and Caccia — having himself enquired
whilst at Prato into every incident of a supernatural kind
connected with visits to her tomb, cures obtained by invok-
ing her, etc. — got the matter discussed in Rome, and suc-
ceeded, just twenty-four years after Catherine's death, in
introducing the cause of her beatification, in the year 1614.

The cause was approved and placed in the hands of the
judges in 1624, by Urban VIII. All was found satisfactory,
and the commission had actually pronounced that beatifi-
cation might safely be proceeded with, when fresh decrees
made by Urban himself suddenly transformed the whole
mode of procedure for the canonization of saints, and every-
thing had to be begun afresh on entirely new methods.
There were many other causes which the Congregation of
Rites had now to take in earlier order than Catherine's;
and the consequence was that her beatification was postponed
for nearly a century. The last examination, under the new
rules, took place in 1716; and on this occasion an impor-
tant incident happened, of special interest to the Domini-
can Order.

There was question of the devotion and cultus that
Catherine had professed for Girolamo Savonarola. The
Promoter Fidei* Prosper Lambertini (afterwards the cele-
brated Benedict XIV) opposed heron this point, affirming
that in this matter she had sinned. He said that, however
eloquently Pico de la Mirandola, Marsilio Ficini,and others
might have defended the great friar, there were two incon-
testable facts most damaging to his memory. First, he and
his companions had been officially handed over to the secu-
lar arm to be executed, and to have their bodies afterwards

* Popularly known as "The Devil's Advocate."

AND HER COMMUNITY 271

publicly burnt at the stake. Secondly, there were undeniable
proofs, confirmed by Savonarola's own confession, that he
had been guilty of disobedience to the pope, and that in
his preaching he had tried to rouse his hearers to rebel
against the vices of the Roman Court, declaring himself to
be a prophet sent from God.

Catherine's defenders replied to these alleged facts by
others no less incontestable, but favourable to the friar's
memory. They showed that Girolamo Savonarola had legiti-
mately enjoyed a great reputation for holiness during hislife,
and that this reputation had survived him; that at his death
he was in communion with the Church of Rome; that he had
approached the sacrament of penance to purify his soul by
humble confession; that he had received the Holy Eucharist
with devotion; and had been grateful for the Plenary Indul-
gence which the Sovereign Pontiff had given him. From
all these facts they drew the conclusion that Catherine could
have addressed private prayers to him without sin; for, they
maintained with Suarez, the only thing necessary to justify
the faithful in privately offering homage and prayers to the
soul of one whom they regard as their advocate with God,
is that they should have a "highly probable opinion " that
such a soul is in possession of eternal salvation.

By a large majority, almost unanimously, the Congre-
gation of Rites, recognizing the force of this answer, gave
their decision on the point in favour of Catherine's defen-
ders. But as the latter, somewhat over jealous for Savona-
rola's honour, tried to make this decision the excuse for
a proclamation of the injustice of his death, and as a fiery
controversy seemed likely to arise over this further question
which would in nowise profit Catherine's cause, it was thought
better to refer the matter to the pope, then Benedict XIII.
He, wishing very wisely to avoid reviving the long-silenced
question of the justice or injustice of Savonarola's sentence,
published a decree by which he commanded that, in future,
silence should be observed as to the cutlus of Fra Girolamo
by the servant of God. Thus, nothing could henceforth be
concluded from this, for or against her cause; and, putting
the point on one side, they proceeded to other questions.*

* Opera Bened. XI V, De Ser-uorum Dei Beat: etc., lib. Ill, cap. xxv, No. 17-20.

272 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

The first decree, in favour of the venerable Catherine's
heroic virtues, was published by Benedict XIII on March 7,
1727; the second, in favour of the authenticity of her mira-
cles, on April 30, 1732, under Clement XII; and finally,
her solemn beatification was celebrated in St Peter's, by the
same pontiff, on November 23 in the same year, being made
the occasion of tremendous rejoicings in Florence on the
part of the populace, as well as of the Ricci family and the
Dominican Order.

Nearly a year later, on September 26, 1733, the tomb of
the 'Beata was opened, in the presence of Mgr Federigo
Alamanni, then Bishop of Pistoja and Prato, of two great-
nephews of Catherine's, the Prior of St Dominic's, and several
other important ecclesiastical and lay functionaries. The
sacred remains were reverently exposed, after a hundred and
forty-two years of interment, to the gaze of a generation that
knew her only by fame; and they beheld with awe that cer-
tain parts of her body had the flesh remaining on it whilst
all the rest was a skeleton : those parts, namely, that had been
mysteriously honoured in life by the marks of Christ's Pas-
sion. On the left side, the flesh extended from the shoulder
(which bore a purple mark where the cross had rested) down
to the breast, which showed clearly the wound made by the
lance. Moreover, whilst her clothing, and everything else
that had been buried with her, had fallen to dust, the little
wooden cross usually placed in the hands of a nun on burial
remained intact, and so firmly fixed between her fingers
that they could not take it away.

After gazing with wonder at these glorious signs of her
sanctity, and offering thanks to God, the bishop and priests
lifted Catherine's body most respectfully from its coffin, and
placed it in a large gilt reliquary, with glass sides, having
first had it clothed again in the Religious habit, so arranged
as to show the mysteriously-preserved marks on her side
and shoulder, and the small wooden cross clasped in her
hand. This casket was carried into the public church and
placed, for the veneration of the people, high up over the
altar, whilst a series of solemn ecclesiastical festivities was
held. An enormous throng assembled to take part in this

AND HER COMMUNITY 273

celebration; and the joy of the populace at actually behold-
ing the body of the saintly virgin of whose wonderful life
they had heard so much, whose memory was so dearly
cherished in Prato, was overwhelming; and doubly so when
the miraculous preservation of the sacredly-marked flesh
was perceived.

The public celebration lasted three days, during which
Sandrini says that very many hearts were moved to true
repentance for sin, and went on the spot to make humble
and contrite confessions, so that all the local priests scarcely
sufficed to hear the numbers that flocked to their feet
throughout this memorable triduo.

The festivities over, Catherine's body was brought down
from its high position and placed permanently underneath
the high altar, cased in a beautiful silver shrine, presented
by the Ricci family. Here it still remains, behind a gilt iron
grille through which it is clearly visible.

Some fresh miracles signalized the beatification, and the
further process for canonization was immediately started.
Ten years, however, passed before the examination of these
last miracles was finished, by which time Benedict XIV was
on the papal throne. He gave his formal approbation to the
favourable decision of the judges in 1744, choosing for this
purpose the feast of St Philip Neri, in memory of the friend-
ship between him and Catherine. On this day, the great
pontiff first said Mass on St Philip's altar, and prayed for
a long time before his relics; after which he solemnly
declared the authenticity of the miracles brought forward
for her canonization.

Two years later, on the feast of SS. Peter and Paul,
1746, he enrolled the name of the Blessed Catherine de'
Ricci amongst the canonized, and proclaimed her "saint"
before the Universal Church.

This event was celebrated, like the Beatification, by a
grand religious festa in Prato, at which Benedict XIV gave
leave to the nuns of San Vincenzio to come forth from their
cloister and walk in procession round the Piazza of St
Dominic with their mother's shrine, which was carried aloft
over the same road that her coffin had taken. The sisters,

18

274 ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

on this occasion, are described as having given such immense
edification to the crowds — formed of every rank in life,
both lay and clerical — through which they walked, by the
modesty, humility and devotion of their behaviour, as to
have touched some onlookers to tears. Nothing could have
been a truer homage to the saint than the tender admira-
tion thus roused by her children, of whom Sandrini says
that " there was not one who on that day did not present
a true image of her whose body they were accompanying
in the triumph of her sanctity "; and loud acclamations of
joy and gratitude from the populace fitly crowned the
honours offered to her on that great day.

St Catherine de' Ricci's home has happily not lost its
love and veneration for her. The quiet town of Prato keeps
up her memory, indeed, by having almost forgotten the
name of San Vincenzio for her former abode, and calling it
the convent of "Santa Catarina." The community, happily,
still exists, having succeeded by the help of friends (notably
by relations of M. Cesare Guasti, the editor of her "Letters")
in buying back their house from the Italian government,
so as to be safely established there. This community, it will
interest readers to hear, islineally descended from theoriginal
one, though wofully diminished in size — numbering about
thirty nuns, where there used to be between one and two
hundred. But their loyal devotion to their saintly "mother"
is undiminished; and they carefully cherish a pear-tree in
the grounds planted by the saint's hands, which still bears
fruit. Many changes, it would appear from descriptions,
have taken place in decorations and arrangements of church
and house, and some of the monastic buildings are possibly
gone, and others restored; but the main part of the convent
— far too large, of course, for its present inhabitants —
remains, and its substantial form and materials are those of
the original construction raised by Filippo Salviati.

APPENDIX

List of Original Sources for the Life of
St Catherine de' Ricci

I. Vita della Venerabile Madre Suor Caterina de Ricci, vergine,

nobil fiorentina, monaca nel monastero di San-Vincenzio
di Prate, scritta del Tadre Serafino Razzi de' Predicatori.
(In Lucca, Busdraghi, 1594, in 4to.)

For this Vita, Razzi — besides his own personal recollections of the
Saint, and the verbal accounts of her contemporaries in the convent —
made use of Sister Maddalena Strozzi's MS. notes, and of four contempo-
rary memoirs compiled by St Catherine's confessors, and other ecclesiastics
who had known her.

II. Vita della Venerabile Madre Suor Caterina de' Ricci, etc.

— scritta del Padre Fra Filippo Guidi, Florentine.
(Firenze, Sermatelli, 1617.)

Guidi was a learned Dominican who was confessor at San Vincenzio
during a part of the Saint's own life. He made use of several contempo-
rary MS. "Lives," Latin and Italian (of which full accounts may be found
in Pere Bayonne's work) ; and also of a Vita Anonyma di Santa Caterina de1
Rial from which readers of the present Life will have found several quo-
tations.

The two Lives by Razzi and Guidi, with the various documents used
by them as authorities, form the primitive monuments of St Catherine,
commonly called her "Leggenda maravigliosa."

After them, come some seventeenth century memoirs, printed and in
MS., Italian and French, chiefly short, and mostly mere compilations.
Next, with the "Processes" for the Beatification and Canonization, come:

III. (i) Compendio della Vita della beata Caterina de' Ricci,

monaca ee.y estratto da processi fatti per la sua beatifica-
zione, autore Virginia Vassecbi, Cassinese, Bresciano,
(In Firenze, Paperini, 1733, in 4to.)

(2) Vita di Santa Caterina de' Ricci, cavata dai sommari
dei processi fatti per la sua beatificazione e canonizazione,
proposti ed essaminasti nella sagra congregazione de Riti.
(In Roma, per Girolamo Mainardi. 1 746, in 4to.)

276 ST CATHERINE DE' RICC1

Then we have the most often quoted Life of the Saint, next to the
two " primitive " ones.

IV. Vita di Santa Caterina de Ricci .... delle Or dine

di San-Domenico^ descritta del *Padre Fra Domenico
Maria Sandrini, deV istesso Ordine. (In Firenze,
Francesco Moilcke, 1747, in 410.)

Lastly, that very important source of information as to the Saint's
inner life and influence on souls :

V. Le Lettere spiritual* efamiliari di Santa Caterina de' Ricci^

Fiorentina, raccolte e illustrate da Cesar e Guasti. (In
Prato, per Ranieri Guasti, 1861.)

INDEX

Affectation, Catherine's dislike for,

168

Agnes, Ven., of Langeac, 8 1
Albizzi, the, rivals of the de' Ricci,

I, 2

Alexandria, St Catherine of, 144
Angel, Catherine's Guardian, 4
"Anonyma," Vita of the Saint (see

Appendix)

Aquinas, St Thomas, 54, 72
Aquinas, St Thomas, His doctrine

on high office in Religious

state, 151 (note)
Assisi, St Francis of, 83
Attentions, to friends, shown by

Catherine, 252

Bardo, Margherita di, 184
Bavaria, King of, sends son to visit

Prato, 129, 207
Bayonne, Pere Hyadnthe, This life

of the Saint founded on his

(see "Preface)

Beatification, Catherine's, 271
Benedictine nuns, the, Catherine at

school with (see " Monticelli")
Benigna, Sister Maria, Catherine's

step-sister, 104, 105, 195
Bernarda Giachianotti, Sister, 182,

267

Besson, Pere Hyacinthe, 85
Body, Catherine's, found in coffin

with parts of flesh incorrupt,

271
Borromeo, St Charles, miraculously

saved through Catherine's

prayers, 208

Borromeo, St Charles, keeps pic-
ture sent by her, 2 1 o
Bossuet, opinion on satisfaction for

sin, 161 (note)

Brothers, Catherine's love for her,

92, 105
Buonaccorso Buonaccorsi, 226;

Catherine's letters to, 227-

234

Canigiani, Giovan-Maria, conver-
sion of, 133

Canonization, the Saint's, 272

" Canticle of the Passion," revealed
to Catherine, and adopted by
the Order, 76

Capponi, Ludovico, and wife, 238,
239; his great reverence for
Catherine, 245, 267; her
letters to, 240-245

Cardinals Aldobrandi, Cafarelli,
Gaddi, and Giustiniani, visit
Catherine, 128

Casas, Padre Alberto de las, General
of Dominican Order (see under
"Passion")

Castiglione, Padre F. R., Dominican
Provincial (ibid.)

Catherine, Alessandra de' Ricci's
name changed to, 29

Catherine, St, de' Ricci, Birth, 3 ;
early years, 3 -6 Contemplative
character, 7; stay at Monti-
celli, 8 ; life at home, 1 5 ;
search for convent of strict
observance, 1 7 ; finds Domi-
nicans of Prato, 19; visits San
Vincenzio, 23 ; first illness and
miraculous cure, 25; entry at
San Vincenzio, 27; clothing,
28; trials before profession, 30;
profession, 37; trials after pro-
fession, second illness and pa-
tience under it, 44; second
miraculous cure, 48 ; her won-

278

ST CATHERINE DE' RICCJ

derful spiritual states dis-
covered, 49 ; commanded to
reveal them to superiors, 5 1 ;
further miraculous cures, 5 3 ;
diabolical attacks and divine
visions, 54, 57; her change of
heart, 60 ; beginning of great
ecstasy of Passion, 62; mystic
espousals, 79 ; receives stigmata
and other marks of Passion,
81; miracle of crucifix, 84;
other miracles, 112; visited
from all parts, 115, 126; her
hatred of public notice, 121,
130; sub-prioress first time,
131; prioress first time, 150;
her wise government, 160;
insists on more prayer, 163;
great ecstasy ceases at her own
prayer, 158; firmness in main-
taining rights (see " Consent
Enclosure "J; intercourse with
St Philip Neri and St M. M.
de' Pazzi, 248; her declining
years, 258; last illness, death
and funeral, 260-267; pos-
thumous appearances and mi-
racles, 268, 269; beatification,
272; removal and veneration
of body, 272, 273 ; canoniza-
tion, 273
Cecilia, St, appears to Catherine,

25

Church, needed at San Vincenzio,
43, 177; finished by Salviati,

193

Clothing of Catherine, 28, 29

Communions, Catherine's during
her great ecstasy, 6"; her last
communion, 261

Community life, Catherine's views
of, 164

" Compassion " of B.M.V., repro-
duced in Catherine, 61; con-
gratulated on by our Lady, 76

Conferences, Catherine's to her
nuns, 156

Convent of strict observance, Ca-
therine's search for, 1 7

Convent Enclosure, affair of, 211

Conversion of Sinners, Catherine's
power of, 133

Cross, mark of our Lord's impressed
on Catherine, 84

Crowds, drawn to Prato by Cathe-
rine's renown, 119, 126, 157

Crucifix, " Sandrina's " at Monti-
celli, 10; wonderful miracle of
at Prato, 85, 86

Crucifixion, wonderful vision of,
58, 59

Death, how welcomed in Cathe-
rine's community, 175
Death, the Saint's own, 263

Divine Office, Catherine's high
views of, 162

Domenico, Fra, companion of Sa-
vonarola, 5 3 ; the wandering
hermit, one of Catherine's
"spiritual sons," 224

Dominican Superiors, Catherine's
relation to (see " Consent En-
closure " )

Dupont, Pere, S.J., quoted, 1 60

Dying, the, Catherine's super-

natural help of, 170

great (see

various to

Ecstasy, Catherine's
" Passion "J

Elections, Catherine's
office, 144 (note)

Eleonora of Toledo, visits Prato,
117; three of her court fol-
lowers converted, 1 1 8

Espousals, Mystic, of Catherine,
79, 80

Eucharist, the Holy, Catherine's
great devotion to and high
views of, 122, 1 68

Face, of our Lord, Catherine's
transformed into image of, 75

INDEX

279

Face, wonderful attraction of Ca-
therine's own, 132

Falconieri, St Juliana, 3

Family, Catherine's correspondence
with her own, begun, 88;
continued with her brothers,
197-207

Fasting, Catherine's severe, 6, 1 1 9

Favour of Community, Catherine's
restoration to, 49

Federigo de' Ricci, Catherine's
uncle, 2, 27, 89, 97, 196,
198, 200

Festivities, public at Prato, on Ca-
therine's beatification and
canonization, 272, 273

Fiammetta da Diacceto, Catherine's
step-mother, 4, 8, 14, 16, 82,
101, 106

Fiammetta da Diacceto, Catherine's
letters to, 102-108

Funeral, Catherine's, 267

Gjberardi, edition of Catherine's
letters (see Preface)

Giovanbatista de' Ricci, Catherine's
half-brother, 5, 105

Giovanni de' Ricci, Catherine's
brother, 90

Gondi, Antonio, 192, 203, 226,
238, 245; death, 247

Government, Catherine's wise, of
her community, 160

Grief of Catherine's community at
her death lessened by visions
of her, 268

Guasti, Cesare, edition of Cathe-
rine's letters (see Preface)

Gutdi, Catherine's biographer, (see
Appendix)

Guizelmi, Agostino, friend of St
Ch. Borromeo and of Cathe-
rine, 209

Heart, Catherine's change of, 60
Heaven, meditation on the joys of,
224

Home, Catherine's love for and life

in, 15, 16
Humility, Catherine's remarkable,

5, 6, 28, 31, 34, 36, 50, 121,

140, 150, 254, 256

Illness, Catherine's last, 260

Illuminated books, passion for in
convents, 12,18

Influence, Catherine's, in produ-
cing faith and love for the
Church in others, 129

Instructions, Catherine's last to her
nuns, 262, 263

Jacopa, Sister M. Cini, 182
Joanna of Austria, 128, 252
"Junior" nuns of San Vincenzio,

Catherine's great care for, 143;

her letter to, 144

Lauda, composed by Catherine to
Savonarola and companions,

53
"Lessandra" de' Ricci, Catherine's

half-sister, 101, 104
Letters, St Catherine de' Ricci's,

editions of and particulars of

translations, etc. (see "Preface)
Letters, written to various people

(see under each name)
Ludovica de' Ricci,Catherine'saunt,

abbess of Monticelli, 8, 9, 14
Loreto, shrine of at Prato, 173
Love, Catherine's intense for souls,

136

Marcellus II, pope, 128

Marietta de' Ricci, 2

Mary Magdalen, St, appears to

Catherine, 59

Mascalzoni, Sister Gabriella, 75, 76
Maxims, Catherine's, preserved by

nuns, 156
Medici, Alessandro de' (Leo XI),

respect for Catherine, 128
Medici, Cosmo de', 136

280

ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

Medici, Francesco de', 136, 252

Michelozzi, Padre N., 74, 75

Miraculous cure from illness, Ca-
therine's first, 25, 26

Miraculous cure from illness, Ca-
therine's second, 48, 49

Miracles, worked by Catherine in
lifetime, 112, 140, 172,209;
after death, 269, 273

Monastic spirit, its relaxation in
Catherine's day, 10, 17; her
high ideal of, 1 1, 12

Monticelli, San Pietro de', Abbey,
Catherine's connection with, 8

Mystical states, nature of discussed
and explained (see Introductory
Treatise by F. B. Wilberforce,
O.P.)

Name-System, mixed, adopted in
this book (see Preface)

Neri, St Philip, and Catherine, 249 ;
his niece's lawsuit with the
Dominican nuns, 250; Ca-
therine's letter to him, ibid.;
his remarks on Catherine's
portrait, 251

Novitiate, Catherine's great trials
during, 30

Nun, a (anonymous), Catherine's
letter to, 148

Passion, the, of our Lord, Cathe-
rine's attraction to as a child,
3, 4; devotion to at Monti-
celli, 8, 9; Catherine's great
ecstasy of, described, 62; exa-
mined and authenticated by
Dominican authorities, 68;
sceptics as to, convinced, 74,
75; finally certified by Papal
Legates, 123; ceases, at Ca-
therine's own prayer, 158

Paul III, sends commissioners to
Prato to examine Catherine
and her community, 123

Pazzi, St M. Magdalen de', 8i;

Catherine's supernatural inter-
course with, 248

Peculiarity in devotion, etc., dis-
couraged by Catherine, 165

Penance, Catherine'sspirit and prac-
tice of, 6, 28, 119, 1 20, 253,
259; strictness about in Reli-
gious life, 1 6 1 ; moderation in
advised by her, 186, 231

Personages, names of important, '
who visited Prato, 129

Philip, St (see " Neri ")

Pierfrancesco de' Ricci, Catherine's
father, 2, 15, 21, 24, 26, 88,
90, 96, IOO; his death, 101;
Catherine's letters to, 89-101

Pisa, Pierfrancesco Consul of, 97

Plays, acted in convents, 1 7

Poor, Catherine's love for the, 1 74

Portraits of Catherine, various (see
Preface)

Portraits taken after death by bro-
ther's order, 265 ; by her nuns'
orders, 268

Poverty, Catherine's spirit of, 164,

253

Prato, the de' Ricci villa at, 19;
Dominican sisters visit to,ibid.;
convent at (see "San Vincen-
zio ")

Prayer, mental, Catherine's arrange-
ment for increase of in com-
munity, 163

Prioress, Catherine made for first
time, 150; example set by her
as, 1 60

Profession, Catherine's, 37

Prophecy, nature of gift (see Intro-
ductory Treatise) ; exercised by
Catherine, 135

Psalms, recited by Catherine in
great ecstasy, 109

Rafaella da Fafinza, Mother, 42,
89, 130; her death, 131

Raptures, Catherine's, during no-
vitiate and after profession

INDEX

281

misunderstood, 33, 45; her
demeanour during, 49, 65,
171, 208; they increase to-
wards end of life, 258

Razzi, Serafino, Catherine's biogra-
pher (see Appendix) ; becomes
one of Catherine's " spiritual
sons," 223

Reproof and correction, Catherine's
mode of, 162

Revelations, made to Catherine
about particular people, 18,
29, 134, 1 66; made about
Catherine to others, 23, 75,
264

Ricasoli, family of, 2

Ricasoli, the Cavaliere, visits Ca-
therine, 254

Riccardi Palace, the (now Mannelli),
Catherine's birthplace, 3

Ricci, de', the family of, I, 2, 5

Ridolfo de' Ricci, Catherine's bro-
ther, 92, 196; death, 207;
Catherine's letters to, 197-203

Ring of mystic espousals, shown to
Catherine, 25 ; bestowed on
her, 80; visible after death,
265

Rucellai, Fra Damiani, Catherine's
letter to, 147

Salviati, Maria, visits Prato, 115

Salviati, Filippo: his wife's miracu-
lous cure, 1 1 5 ; his connection
with San Vincenzio, 177;
miracles worked for his con-
version, 179, 1 80, 194; his
daughters, 1 8 2, 1 8 3 ; his death,
194; Catherine's letters to,
183-193; his sons and the
community, 212-222

Sandrini, Catherine's biographer (see
Appendix]

San Vincenzio, convent of at Prato,
Catherine's first visit to, 23;
her return there for good, 27;
foundation and foundresses of,

38 ; present condition of build-
ing and community, 274

Savonarola, Fra Girolamo, 12, 13;
connection with founding of
San Vincenzio, 38 ; cultus of in
community, 48 ; appearances
to Catherine, 49, 52, 58;
Catherine's " spiritual sons "
help to revive public devotion
to, 247; incident connected
with at Catherine's beatifica-
tion, 270

Scipio de' Ricci, Bishop, 5

Sensible aids to devotion, provided
by Catherine for her nuns,
172

Sick, the, Catherine's great care for,
169

Siena, St Catherine of, 83

Silvestro, Fra, companion of Savo-
narola, 39, 40, 53

Sisters, Catherine's younger, nuns
at Prato, 1 5 5

"Spiritual Sons," Catherine's 223
(see also under " Buonaccorso,"
" Capponi," " Gondi," " Do-
menico," " Strozzi " and
" Razzi ")

State, monastery compared to a, 159

Statue, miraculous, of our Lady at
Prato, 41

Stigmata, Sacred, bestowed on Ca-
therine, 8 1

Strozzi, Sister Maddalena, 29, 51,

76, 82, 120, 136, 140, 256

Strozzi, Lorenzo, Catherine's "spiri-
tual son," 234; her letters to,
235-238

Sub-prioress, Catherine first ap-
pointed, 1 3 I

Sufferings, undertaken by Catherine
for sinners, 136; for souls in
purgatory, 138

Sufferings, her own severe, through
life, 259

Superiors, Catherine's letters to (see
" Consent Enclosure "}

282

ST CATHERINE DE' RICCI

Taddei, Lorenzo, character beauti-
fully described by Catherine,
227 (note)

Tauler, John, quoted, 44

Teresa, St, 81 (note)

Thekla, St, appears to Catherine, 25

Third Order, Dominican, position
in of Catherine and her com-
munity (see Preface)

Thorns, our Lord's crown of,
marked on Catherine's head,

83

Thoughts, Catherine reads her
nuns', 167

Timoteo de' Ricci, Padre, Cathe-
rine's uncle, 5, 21, 20, 35,

5°> 5'> 93, 98> H7» *52'>

his death, 154

Totti, Fra Gabriello, 95
Tongues, nature of gift (see Intro-
ductory Treatise)

Trent, Council of, its pronounce-
ments compared with Cathe-
rine's visions, 126 (note)

Union, spirit of amongst Cathe-
rine's nuns, 175

Unselfishness, shown by Catherine
to her nuns, 1 68

Utterances, Catherine's during
great ecstasy, no, in

Vincenzio de' Ricci, Catherine's
half-brother, 102 (note), 196,
203, 210, 265; her letters
to, 203-207

Visions and revelations, Catherine's,
87, 125, 137, 138

Visions and revelations, nature of
compared (see Introductory
Treatise}

0

A 000 667 929 4